There Are No Happy Endings
by WongTheGreatAndPowerful
Summary: Teams RWBY and JNPR lead a pretty good life at Beacon, making friends and passing tests. But not everyone can have that. Not everyone can have a taste of the good life. When these promising young Huntsmen and Huntresses see what lurks in the shadows, hidden, forgotten, they realize not everyone's story can have a happy ending. Inspired by Assassin's Creed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic, but don't go easy on me in the reviews, I need honest feedback on my work. Also, this is primarily a AC x RWBY fic, however there will be references to other franchises and entertainment series. These will be indicated by asterisks next to the reference. Let me know if you don't want me to do this, and if you want longer chapters. By the by, this fanfic picks up right after Episode 7 of RWBY, and pretends the rest didn't happen. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

_BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!_

"Gooooood morning Team RWBY!"

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Weiss groaned as she nursed her side from collapsing to the ground for the umpteenth time. Blake growled and threw her wadded up blanket at their cheeky leader, while Yang simply gave her the most threatening glare she could muster.

"I thought we agreed, NO WHISTLES!"

"But this is an emergency sis, we have a assembly at 8:15!"

"So what?"

"So look at the time."

8:05 AM.

"Shit!"

"I call the shower!"

"Oh no you don't!"

Weiss scrambled to the bathroom, Yang at her heels. Blake sighed, and resigned herself to just combing her hair.

######

Team RWBY made it just in time for the assembly, with R and W clean, chipper, and ready, B buried in a book, and Y with matted hair, crimson eyes, and the largest scowl ever to curse a woman's face. They took their place next to JNPR. The entire room went silent as Ozpin cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone.

"As some of you are aware, there was a breach in privacy this weekend.", Ozpin began, "A hacker bypassed the security detail guarding our CCT, and made off with very sensitive information. Luckily, the thief left behind a clue."

A screen went on above Ozpin, displaying a medallion shaped like a weird sort of triangle, with two sides curving inwards, and the last curving outwards.*

"You were all told your first mission would begin today, but instead of choosing your objective, all of you are assigned the task of gathering as much information about the thief this whole week in Vale. Get on it."

######

Team RWBY disembarked from the airship, and began to talk with JNPR.

"Where are you guys planning on going Jaune?"

"Well, we were going to just wander around the town looking for that weird symbol anywhere."

"Seems legit."

"Legit, right!"

As the two teams continued their chit chat, they failed to notice _the mysterious hooded man, watching from a distance..._**

**A/N: Well, so that's it, my first chapter. Now, for the references!**

***I'm not too good at describing things, so look up the Assassin's Crest on Google Images if you aren't a fan of the series.**

****Yes, I threw a Tobuscus reference in there. If you don't watch his channel, try him out, he's super funny! The videos that reference came from are his "Assassin's Creed Literal" videos. Check him out!**

**That's all, peace out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, here to a new chapter everyone! Cheers!**

Chapter 2

_Cinder Fall sauntered into the dimly lit room, accompanied by Roman, Mercury, and Emerald._

"I assume from the intrusion, the job is done?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why don't you ever talk that nice to me?"

"Shut up, Roman!"

_A dark figure rose from the shadows._

"I thought as brothers-and-sisters in arms, you are supposed to show respect for each other, _Cinder_?", putting special emphasis on her name.

"Of course, sir!", the panic evident in her voice.

_Roman snickered in the background, but was quickly silenced by the figure turning his attention to him._

"As for you, I hope you've earned the right to laugh by planting the medallion?"

"Of course sir, they're almost certainly scrambling to catch those _Assassins_ now, oblivious to our plans."

"Good, good. It would seem as everything is in place, perfect. You are dismissed. May the Father of Understanding guide us."*

_Team CRME repeated in chorus,_ "May the Father of Understanding guide us."*

######

Teams RWBY and JNPR wandered the town, wondering what to do.

"I guess this is a good a place as any to split up?"

"Sure, me and Pyrrha will head this way. Ren, take Nora to the slums, maybe someone there stole the info to make a quick buck."

"Alright Team RWBY, me and Weiss will head out towards the docks, Blake and Yang, check out that club, it's given us lots of info in the past."

"Let's go guys!"

As the pairs made their way to the planned destinations, they were oblivious to the men in white hoodies following through the crowd.

"Targets are on the move, permission to intercept?"

"No, we cannot risk the attention right now. Trail until in an isolated area."

"Roger."

The men made their way through the crowd, slipping in and out of various groups of people so as not to draw attention, others took to the roofs to try and attempt an unseen approach altogether.

This continued for 3 minutes, at which point each pair had made it to their respective locations.

"Sir, targets have reached destinations."

"Non lethal takedowns only, we need them alive."

"Got it."

Ruby and Weiss had walked into a warehouse in the middle of offloading, and in the chaos of workers scrambling to unload packages, they failed to notice two hooded men hide behind the crates of goods.

"*whistle*"

"Weiss, did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I think it came from over there."

Just as they rounded the corner of the crates, the men reached around them and knocked them unconscious.

######

Jaune and Pyrrha had made it to the Vale CCT, and decided to go inside and check out the files to see if any information had been stolen here as well.

"Man, this place is packed."

"Yeah, it isn't normally this full, especially on a Monday."

While trying to push their way to Customer Service, a hooded man and woman weaved their way to them. Using the bustling crowd as cover, they came close enough to the Huntsman and Huntress. No one noticed the amazon and knight being dragged off.

######

"I wonder if they have pancakes here?"

"Nora, please don't think about those."

Nora began to drool and mumble about syrup and fluffy pastries with Ren sighing.

"What was that?"

The duo saw a shadow dash across a dark alley, and went to investigate. With the darkness, Nora's daydreaming, and Ren's long hair slightly getting in the way of his vision, the two figures crouching on the roofs were invisible. The pair never got to see the perfect form of two hooded men air stunning them.

######

"Guess who's baaaaaack?"

Yang walked into the bar with an exaggerated sway in her hips and her chest out that made even the conservative Blake blush in three parts embarrassment, anger, and jealousy. Fortunately, Junior's goons didn't point their Dust guns at her this time, but with how she was acting, some of them wanted to point another type of gun at her, which were holstered in some bulging pants at the moment.

"Yang, do you have no shame?!"

"Nope!"

"Blondie! You're here..._again._ Why?"

"I need some info."

As Yang dragged Junior to the bar, the two hooded women in the rafters threw smoke bombs into the room, blinding Blake long enough to be knocked out. And without her teammate's enhanced faunus vision, Yang was an easy picking.

"Command, all targets down, please advise."

"Bring them to the Sanctuary. Use the tunnels."

"Roger. E.T.A. 5 minutes."

**A/N: Well, that's it. Again, time for the references.**

***This phrase is the motto for the Templars, the enemy faction in the Assassin's Creed franchise.**

**That's all folks, see ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, The Wong is back with a new chapter! This one's a bit short, I do apologize for that, something came up today. Next chapter will be much, much longer as I will be introducing the other four main OCs next chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

"Wake up."

"Urgh…."

"WAKE UP."

Ruby awoke in a darkened room with T.V. screens. She was bound to a chair, as well as her teammates, who were just coming to.

"How dare you treat me like this?!", Weiss screeched. "I will have you in chains!"

"Not the smartest thing to say to someone who has you trapped, Weiss."

"Shut up Belladonna!"

"QUIET."

Everyone's attention immediately turned to the figure standing behind a pane of darkened glass.

"You are here now, and you WILL answer our questions. Now, why are you seeking out our symbol?"

"We were looking into a thef-"

"We were planning on joining."

Everyone turned to Blake with a quizzical look.

"If that is so, why didn't you perform the Black Sacrament?"*

"We did not have the resources to do so, _Assassin._"

A short pause.

"Very well, you will be released shortly."

The clasps holding the two teams in place released the Huntsmen and Huntresses. While the rest of them rubbed their sore wrists and ankles, Weiss immediately began to question Blake.

"Why did you tell them we wanted to _join_?!" she hissed. "You yourself called them _Assassins_!"

"I lied to free the rest of you from captivity. And because I know they're not that bad."

"_They are ASSASSINS! _What do you mean, NOT BAD?!"

"I heard about them during my time in the White Fang. They actually helped us in a few tight spots. Yes, they do kill, but like the White Fang, they only hurt the unjust. I'm not saying killing is right, but at least they don't just murder random people on the street."

At that moment, a boy with short black hair, black hoodie with red accents, skinny jeans, and an innocent looking face stepped into the room.

"H-h-hi. My name i-is Alan Starling. I-i'll be your guide until your formal induction, Recruits."

**A/N: Well that's it! ****Anyways, time for the references!**

***This is a reference to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Black Sacrament is a ritual used to summon the in-game assassins called the Dark Brotherhood. This Sacrament is quite morbid, so look it up on your own risk! But Skyrim is an amazing game, get it if you love open world games!**

**That's all for now, laters!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys, new chapter, as promised, but now, better and funnier with the help of my new beta reader, Dark DescendantHG! He or she so graciously accepted my request to proofread my chapters, so say thanks! Now, onto the story!**

Chapter 4

Teams RWBY and JNPR nervously followed this young, stuttering boy out of the room and into a hallway.

"So, Alan, you don't look the part of an Assassin, you're waaaay too cute!"

Alan blushed at the compliment/insult, while Blake elbowed Yang in the side.

"Don't be so rude!"

"No! No, it's fine, really. If only the other girls thought that, heh..."

Alan nervously rubbed the back of his head. The rest of the Huntsmen and Huntresses got the message of 'this-is-kind-of-a-touchy-subject' from Alan's face, but Yang, being the boisterous blonde she was, decided to push it further.

"So how did you join anyway?"

While the rest of the party gave her glares, Alan actually responded.

"I was sort of born into the Brotherhood. My parents were accomplished Assassins, and they wanted me to be successful like them. But deep down, I've always kinda wanted to be a Huntsman."

"Well why don't you just apply to Beacon, like m-"

"Like other promising young men?"

Yang gave Ren a quizzical look at this interjection, but luckily Alan didn't seem to notice.

"I'd rather not say right now…"

Now Yang was dense, but not _that_ dense, and dropped the subject, preferring instead to speak to Ren about that comment while Alan unlocked a door out of this area.

"What was that for?", she whispered.

"We can't announce to this whole organization we're with Beacon, they did after all steal from us.", Ren said matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Right."

"Alright guys, here we are, the Inner Sanctum!", Alan announced while throwing open the door.

They all turned to face the opening door. With a quiet hiss, it slid open to reveal a room as large as the main auditorium back at Beacon, filled with men and women, human and faunus, either talking or rushing to one of the four main exits located on the first floor, each with huge 20 foot high doorways and regular sized doors flanking them. There were also four smaller exits on the second floor/balcony, including the one they were standing in, leading to presumably less important areas. The tiles of the first floor was dominated by a large, fancier version of the medallion left at Beacon. The whole area was lit by a glowing orb suspended in midair in the roof.

"THIS. IS. AMAZING!", Ruby squealed.

The rest of the party stood dumbstruck from the grandeur of the room.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool.", Alan said. "Well don't just stand there, I gotta show you the guys that'll be training you."

"Isn't that you?"

"No, Ms…"

"Nikos. Pyrrha Nikos."

The rest of the Hunters stared at Pyrrha, while she just realized that she'd blown their cover.

Alan gave them a weird look, then said, "Well then Pyrrha, I'm just the guide, I'm responsible for getting you situated around here. Team DRKE (DRAKE) are gonna be your personal tutors."

"Oh, okay.", Pyrrha said, grateful for the lack of attention.

'_Thank Monty this kid doesn't know who I am.'_, Pyrrha thought.

"So about these DRKE fellows, tell us more about them.", Weiss demanded.

"Well, they're certainly a colorful cast, those guys.", Alan chuckled. "I think I'll leave the rest for them to explain."

The party walked over to one of the less important looking doors while Alan explained.

"The second floor is dedicated to the less important rooms, situated in the North-West, North-East, South-East, and South-West. They contain the interrogation and memory rooms, the one you were kept in, the armory and forge, library, and the club, which we'll be heading to now. Now, the club is the most popular area in the place, but it is a bit, uh…..how should I put this? Rough. Yeah."

"Sounds like my kinda place!"

"Well, judging from those gauntlets you have there, Ms…"

"Yang Xiao Long."

"Ms. Xiao Long, it would seem as if the club is the place for you."

He pushed open the door leading to the club, and immediately the Hunters were bombarded with a ruckus matched only when Yang ran out of shampoo, Weiss flipped out from a prank, and Nora saw pancakes AND syrup at the same time. Which, now that the Hunters thought about it, happened pretty often.

The bar was filled with men and women partying without a care in the world. Music blasted full volume from the many speakers, and there were unconscious people flung over couches, chairs, and lying about on the ground, with all out brawls breaking out between drunks, leaving little question about where those knocked out bodies came from. As the group made their way to the center of the place to grab the first member of DRKE, they were interrupted by a wild screaming.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!"

"Ooof!"

Alan was flung into a table by a blonde who looked in his early twenties, who was whooping and laughing like a crazy person. He had a large mechanism holstered on his back, with two giant blades that look like no normal person could heft without the help of an Aura. He was garbed in a hooded vest over a white collared shirt, colored mostly in light brown with blue and white accents that had rounded triangular coattails that reached halfway down his shins, and extensions that hung down the front of his body to his knees. He wore cream colored trousers with knee high boots.

"Oooh hooo hoooo! That was amazin' mate!"

"Get off me Edward!" Alan shoved the newly dubbed Edward off of him. "Didn't your Captain tell you to quit swingin' on those ropes?!"

"Bah, to 'ell with the Captain!" Edward mumbled while taking a swig from a rum bottle. He finally noticed the Hunters standing there, and especially Yang, and managed to slur out, "Well, hello little lady! What do they call you?!"*

"Yang Xiao Long, and what a gentleman, calling me a lady! And what is your name?"

Edward gave a mock salute and half yelled, "Edward Young, at your service!" as he tried an awkward bow.

From the commotion Edward was causing, he failed to notice a young woman around his age come sauntering out of the crowd.

"And who are these people, Edward?"

He turned to look at the new arrival. "Annie! These are my newest, bestest friends in the world!", he exclaimed while flinging an arm around Yang.

Annie's face turned into a look of disgust as she yelled, "You have other girlfriends?!"

"No, no I didn't mean it like-"

_PKSHH!_

Edward fell to the ground from the sheer force of the slap.

"DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN, YOU PIG!"

Edward cradled his newly crimson cheek as his former girl stormed off.

"Jaysus! How in the hell do girls hit that HARD?! I swear they have like, iron nails or something!"

"It's probably the sting of losing yet _another_ girlfriend, Edward.", Alan laughed as he pulled the man to his feet.

"You're probably right, mate. Well, now that I've sobered up, I guess I'm sorry for that display, Yang."

"It was fine, Eddie."

"Eddie?"

"Looks like my sis already made up a nickname for ya!"

Edward groaned as he said, "Well wonderful. Alan, mind fillin' me in on why you've brought these guys here?"

"They're your team's new students, mate!"

"Meowth, that's right!"**, Nora piped in.

Everyone just stared.

"N-n-nora…", Ren stammered, "That didn't even rhyme…"

"Oh."

"Let's just get this over with.", Edward sighed, and the party exited the now silent bar, still stunned from Nora's terrible outburst.

"Well, where are we off to now, Alan?"

"Weeeee're off to see the Wizaaaard! The wonderful wizard of-"***

"Nora, please...just stop."

Her face fell a little at Ren's command as she squeaked out, "Okay."

"To answer your question, we're goin' to find the K in DRKE.", Edward said.

"Wonder where Kayla is anyway?", Alan questioned.

"Probably training her ass off in the rooms. A shame, what a nice ass she has too..."

"Edward! She's your friend!", Alan exclaimed.

"A friend with BENEFITS! Eh?"

Alan sighed, "In front of our guests, at least pretend to be civil.", as he turned to the now stunned Hunters.

"Sorry for robbing you of your innocence."

"Bah, innocence is overrated!"

The group made their way downstairs to the main hub, while Alan explained the functions of the large doors.

"These are the entrances to the more important parts of the Sanctuary, the Main Entrance, Dormitories, Training Rooms, and The Catacombs, located in the South, West, East, and North respectively."

"Catacombs?", Jaune questioned.

"Aye lad.", Edward said. "Where we bury the most honored of this Order. We also hold important meetings there."

"Oh."

They headed to the entrance with the words "Training Rooms" stenciled above in golden letters.

As the massive doors opened, they revealed a enormous hallway lined with sliding doors leading to large rooms. Peering through the observation windows as they looked for this Kayla, the Hunters found men and women fighting holographic projections that somehow seemed to have weight behind them. In another room, they saw the very ground lift up and form buildings and terrain, which the trainee proceeded to climb and run through.

"Man, this place is decked out!"

"That it is Yang, all the latest holographic technologies are in these rooms, and even some stuff our tech team developed themselves."

They finally stopped at a room midway down the hall. Looking inside, they saw a raven-haired woman barely in her twenties wielding a spear with a stylized point and guard shaped like the Assassin symbol, and a naginata-type blade on the other end, practicing with a bunch of projected guards. And by practicing, she was tearing them apart.

As a guard rushed her swinging, she spun into a crouch, allowing another guard to stab his charging teammate, then finishing off the 'traitor' by impaling him and planting the spear point into the ground. As the body slowly slid down the shaft, she grabbed the handle just below the glaive end and swung herself around, deflecting batons and swords with her legs while dodging gunfire, sliding down the shaft with the body. As it hit the floor, she got a enemy in a chokehold with her legs and yanked her weapon out of the ground, snapping his neck with her momentum and vaulting off his body to stab another guard in the head. As she landed she started spinning her spear around her body, keeping the guards at a distance. When the weapon began losing its momentum, she used it to launch herself into the air and toss a flash bomb. As the holograms flinched and rubbed their eyes, the woman took her time to dispatch the remaining men.

"Is that it?"

She looked towards the now opening door to the training area and scowled at her teammate. Her weapon folded up into a rectangle which was holstered with a strap around her shoulder.

"Yeah. And it's a damn sight better than your fighting skills."

"Ooooooh hooooo, is that a challenge?"

"Save it you two, right now you need to say 'Hi' to your new students, Kayla."

"Students?", the woman asked. She turned to face the Hunters. "Oh, you must be them new Recruits they were talking about. Well, hello, name's Kayla Nelson. I prefer fighting with spears and other polearms. Ain't much else to tell."

While the girls nodded at this introduction, both Jaune and even the calm and collected Ren were staring, mouths slightly open, at Kayla's ample chest, which her clothing, a white V-necked, hooded, long-sleeved shirt that hugged her body in all the right places, plus skinny jeans and sneakers, showed off without restraint.

"H-h-hi.", Ren managed to stammer out.

"Hahahaha! Appears you got two more that would like for you to use their 'polearms'!", Edward joked.

Kayla sighed and reached behind her back, activating something behind her vest. Her chest immediately started flattening considerably.

Jaune gave a slight whine as he dreamily muttered, "What was that for?"

"Jaune!", Pyrrha shouted, her face becoming indistinguishable from her hair.

"Wha? Oh Pyrrha. What?"

"Don't stare!"

"Oh. Uh, s-s-sorry about that Ms. Nelson."

Kayla sighed and deadpanned, "Just call me Kayla. And it's fine."

Then Ruby, being the innocent little girl she was, decided to ask the question on all the Hunters' minds.

"So how did you shrink your lady parts so much?"

Everyone immediately blushed at that question, and Kayla stammered out a response.

"I-i-i have a special thing called a b-b-binder. It h-h-helps me to disguise myself."****

"Oh. Well that's cool!"

"Uh…...yeah."

"Well with that little question out of the way, how 'bout we move on, yeah?", Edward said, still stunned at Ruby's innocence.

As the group walked out of the room and towards to the exit, Ruby decided it was appropriate enough to start another conversation.

"So, you're a spear fighter huh?"

"Y-yeah."

"Well, does your weapon have any second forms?"

"Sure, it can be drawn directly into a rifle."

She demonstrated by pressing a button on the side of the holstered weapon, which unfolded into a AK47-type rifle, utilizing the naginata blade as a bayonet and the spear point as a sight.

"Cool!", Ruby squealed.

"It's not that special, it's just a weapon."

"Are you kidding me?! They are an extension of ourselves, a part of us!"

"Girl, I've been there, done that, and it don't work.", Yang lamented as Ruby launched into a tirade of weapons features.

"I see what you mean."

They made it out of the training rooms and walked back up the stairs to the second floor.

"I assume we're going to find Ryan?", Kayla asked.

"Yeah."

They walked over to the door labeled 'Library' and pushed the door open.

They were hit immediately by the musty odor of rotting books and copious amounts of dust. The library itself was rather large, with tall book shelves and tables for studying.

"Where are all the people?", Ren inquired.

"No one ever visits this place. They'd rather be training or partying instead of reading centuries old books and and manuscripts."

"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!"

Everyone looked to a now hysterical Blake, who was looking around with a stunned expression.

"These books, filled with the knowledge of people all over Remnant, left to decay in this place!", she cried.

"Calm down Blakey, its just books."

"JUST BOOKS?!"

Yang backed off from the clearly agitated faunus, as Weiss examined a gold plaque on display, with a thick book below it.

"What's this?"

"The Assassin's Creed, made of the Three Tenants and the Maxim.", Alan explained. "'Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent, hide in plain sight, and never endanger the Brotherhood.' And the most important part, the Maxim. 'Where others blindly follow the truth, remember, nothing is true. Where others are limited, by morality or law, remember, everything is permitted.'"*****

"That's kinda sketchy."

"So is our organization.", a deep, rough voice responded from the darkness

The group turned to see a figure rise from the shadows. As it stepped into the light, they saw a serious looking man in his mid-twenties, dressed in a deep navy blue trench coat, almost to the point of being black, with a black bandana wrapped around his neck. His brown trousers had various electronic equipment strapped around them, with wolf ears adorning his head as well as his grey hair and baseball cap, and a tail brushing the floor behind him. But the strangest part of this man was not his two different animal parts, as most faunus only had one, but his deep red eyes.

"Hey, Blake. Don't faunus' only have one animal part?", Yang whispered.

"Normally."

This man had two jet black gauntlets that reached up to his elbow, extending a little past his wrist to cover up his hands to his knuckles.

"So these are the new Recruits, hm? Gotta admit you look more promising than the run-of-the-mill mercenaries and ruffians hoping to join. Name's Ryan Stark."

"You recruit mercenaries?", Weiss questioned uneasily.

"Aye. Not many are willin' to fight simply for the good of the people, so we also take contracts to eliminate targets that clients are payin' to have taken out of the picture.", Edward supplied.

"But I assure you, we do background checks to make sure they actually did something wrong.", Ryan added.

"The good of the people? I thought the Huntsmen are supposed to take care of that.", Ruby questioned.

"They are, but the Huntsmen aren't allowed to kill anything but Grimm. They have to instead waste time finding incriminating evidence of the individual, and even then they are simply locked away for life at the worst, giving them the chance to escape, while we just end them with this."

He flicked his wrist backwards to extend a thin blade from under his forearm.******

"The signature weapon of the Assassins, the hidden blade. Highly customizable stealth weapons that can kill discreetly and stay out of sight from guards."

He pressed a button, which caused a mini crossbow to unfold from the mechanism.

"Made mine with this crossbow attachment, loaded with normal bolts and berzerker darts."

"Berzerker darts?"

"Yeah. They drive the target insane, forcing him or her to attack anyone in sight, and then kill them from overdose in one minute."

"Oh."

"Yeah, kinda brutal but necessary for causing a distraction."

Ruby quickly recovered from the shock of being told that her 'trainers' were murderers, reminding herself of Blake's words, and was taken over by her weapons geek side again.

"OH, OH!", she excitedly pointed at the other two Assassins. "Show us yours!"

Edward extended his blade first, which was shorter but wider than Ryan's, and it transformed into a gun at the press of its button.

"Mine's is a shortened version, designed for combat rather than stealthy kills like Ryan's is. Secondary form is a single shot grenade launcher, holds smoke, concussion and frag rounds.

Kayla extended her blade after, revealing a blade somewhere in between her other teammates' in terms of length with a hook at the end.

"Mine's is the Hookblade. Does exactly as the name suggests. Helps me climb and grapple enemies."

"THAT'S. SO. COOL!", Ruby squealed as Yang held her by the cloak to prevent her from reaching and stroking the weapons.

"Well someone's a bit of a weapons nerd.", Ryan commented.

"Yeah, guess you could say that.", Ruby said as she blushed a little.

"Well, ain't no use sitting 'round here ogling over blades. Might as well find the Captain.", Edward curtly responded.

"Captain?", Jaune questioned.

"Aye, lad. Each team here 'as a Captain appointed to keep his or her teammates in check."

"Oh, well what are we waiting for?"

"Nothin'. So let's go.", Ryan gruffly answered.

The group walked out of the library and back down to the first floor. Well everyone except for Edward, who choose the flashier way down, jumping from the second floor into a hay bale located off to the side of the stairs. As he dusted himself off, Jaune spoke up.

"What was that?"

"The Leap of Faith. We use it to get down from high places in a rush. If you're askin' why I did it, then just for fun." he answered grinning.*******

"Why don't you use your Aura to land safely?"

"Didn't you tell 'em Alan? No one has an Aura 'round here."

"You guys don't have souls?!"

Edward gave a hearty laugh and replied, "We do, but no one ever activated our Auras for us yet. The Captain is the one exception to that trend."

"Oh."

"Speaking of whom, where is he?"

"In the dorms plannin' our next mission most likely. Man's obsessed with work."

They made their way to the 'Dormitories' entrance and opened the doors.

They walked down the two story high establishment, lined with doors. They made their way to the end of the hall, climbed the stairs to the second floor and opened the first door.

They found a man sitting at a large desk typing away at a computer, which displayed the faces of many shady looking individuals. The man himself wore a jet-black hooded coat and waistcoat designed with a large crimson dragon design across the upper back portion. He also wore a belt with a Assassin Crest belt buckle holding up white breeches and leather boots. He had a cutlass sheathed in a black metal scabbard, along with a rectangular black container with faintly glowing red lines streaking across it clipped behind him on his belt.

"What's up boss?"

"Nice seeing your mug 'round here again, Edward. Pray tell me where were you goofing off at when we have new recruits under our care?"

"Gatherin' them ya lout!"

Edward stepped further into the room and flopped down into one of the four beds, while Ryan and Kayla took their places next to the man as he introduced himself.

"Don't mind that lazy fool. My name's Drake Darnell, Captain of Team DRKE."

As if on cue, he and his teammates pulled on the hoods of their outfits and struck serious looking poses.

Except for a newly drunken Edward who leaped from his bed, landing on the floor on his knees and spreading his arms.

"Ta da!"

"Damn it Edward."

**A/N: So that's it! Our four OCs, Drake, Ryan, Kayla and Edward! Since I now have a proofreader, chapters will be coming out a bit slower for the time being, but it'll be worth it! Now time for the references.**

***That is a reference to Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. It's a great open world game, so go get it if you haven't already! Also, Edward will be very similar to the main character in AC4: BF, who is also named Edward.**

****Yes, I put a Pokemon reference in there. What you gonna do 'bout it?**

*****That is a reference to the Wizard of Oz, a cinema legend, all of you should know it.**

******Binders are real things that act sort of like bras, but flatten, as Ruby puts it, 'lady parts'. I happen to have a cosplaying female friend who wears one all the time to cosplay.**

*******This is the Creed all Assassins must say when inducted to the Brotherhood. It has a pretty deep meaning if you think about it.**

********The Hidden Blade is the signature weapon of the Assassins. Watch a few AC videos if you're not a fan of the franchise, it looks pretty damn cool.**

*********The Leap of Faith is a move used to get down from high places by jumping onto a soft substance, most notably hay bales.**

**That's all for now. Laters!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** **Hey, the Wongster is back with another chapter! Also, this chapter might suck a little as I'm not that good at combat scenes, which this chapter has a lot of. Once again, thanks to Dark DescendantHG for proofreading this.**

Chapter 5

After Drake was done scolding Edward for getting drunk in front of the rather young Recruits, and more importantly for ruining the team's moment of badassery, they left the dorms to get the training started.

"So who's going to be training who?", Weiss inquired.

"Depends on the style of fighter you guys are.", Drake responded. "Wanna enlighten us on your weapons?"

"Sniper Scythe."

"Rapier."

"Katana, handgun, and machete."

"Shot-Gauntlets."

"Long sword and shield."

"War hammer and grenade launcher."

"Short sword, shield, javelin, and rifle."

"SMGs with blade attachments."

"Hm. That's an interesting lineup…", Drake thought for a bit. "I guess Edward'll teach…" He pointed at Ruby and Nora with a quizzical look.

"I'm Ruby and she's-"

"NORA!"

Drake blinked a few times in surprise. "Okay then…" Regaining his composure, he continued. "Kayla, you get the spartan and the faunus."

Blake gasped. "How do you know that?!"

"You just told me. Besides, no offense but how often do you see people wearing bows?"

"Speak for yourself.", Blake responded while pointing at the crimson bow tied around Drake's neck, which the party just now noticed.

"Whatever. Moving on, Ryan, take the sexy blonde and the Asian guy."

Drake caught himself saying that and blushed while Yang giggled.

"Just goes to show that _no one_ can resist _this_.", Yang snarked while gesturing at her assets.

Meanwhile Edward slurred out, "Hey, boss! You don't think I'm sexy?!"

"Goddamn it Edward, can you stop the booze for more than an hour?"

"Nope!", he chuckled while trying to make advancements on his Captain.

He was met with a boot to the face.

"Finally, I'll take the other blonde and the Ice Queen."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!", Weiss shouted.

As Drake received an earful of how some people are born without the sensitivity of others while trying to keep a jealous Edward from smooching him, the other two Assassins started to get familiarized with their trainees.

"So what do you two know about two handed weapons?", Kayla questioned.

"Not very much, as my javelin and short sword are one handed weapons.", Pyrrha responded.

"Same here, I normally dual wield my machete sheath and katana, and sometimes switch it into a kusarigama-type weapon when at a distance.", Blake added.

'Great.', Kayla inwardly groaned. 'Drake had to give me the two opposites of my style.'

Meanwhile, Ryan was quite satisfied with his group.

"So, both of you are dual wielders?"

"Yup!", Yang cheerfully answered.

"As am I, in fact I use gauntlets as well Yang, but in a different way.", Ryan explained.

They made it once again to the training rooms, which was now mostly empty due to it being 5 PM.

"I must excuse myself, the Grandmasters wanted to see me.", Alan said.

"Grandmasters?", Ren queried.

"Yeah, the leaders of our Order. They might not be the most physically gifted, but their wisdom far overshadows that.", Alan responded.

"Right, we'll see ya later then Alan. Better hurry, never a good idea to keep them waiting. Well guys, pick a room, we start immediately.", Drake declared.

The groups went their separate ways, and began to talk business.

######

"So little girlies, wanna show me what ya know?", Edward slurred out.

"ME FIRST!", Nora shouted.

She pulled out Magnhild in grenade launcher form and started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Wonderful, BEGIN!", Edward shouted as he slammed a button on the wall, which spawned around 30 standard Atlas troopers.

"We're not fighting Grimm?", Ruby questioned as Nora laid down hellfire upon the guards.

"Nope, we're Assassins, not Huntsmen. Only monster I ever killed was a Gore Magala, and that was by stealing the kill from a Huntsman.", Edward said.*

"Gore Magala? What's that?", Ruby asked.*

"A rare type of Grimm, with the ability to infect humans and faunus with a type of disease. Only ever seen one. Pretty cool lookin' too. Built this ol' thing with the parts I could salvage.", he explained as he patted the black and purple mechanism on his back.*

Nora finished with the guards and walked over.

"All done!"

"What?!", Edward shouted while looking at the disappearing holograms. "H-h-how?"

Nora shrugs and answered, "Just sorta happened."

Ruby thought up a more convincing argument and revealed, "We forgot to mention, all of us have our Auras unlocked."

"Well looks like the Captain ain't gonna be special no more…", Edward mumbled. "Well, since you two are clearly well versed in your weapons, we can take a load off.", Edward slumped onto the wall and began to nod off.

"Well, why don't you show us your skills?", Ruby asked.

"Too lazy.", Edward responded.

"Come on, _please_?", Ruby whined.

After about 3 minutes of Ruby's whining and puppy dog eyes, Edward finally relented.

"Fine! Just stop that goddamned look!"

Edward clambered out on the training area, and activated something on his vest that caused a medieval breastplate, shoulder pads, gauntlets and greaves to unfold from his clothes, and pulled out his weapon. As he gripped the handle, the weapon unfolded into a double-edged scythe as large as Edward himself, with a seemingly unnecessary serrated sword-like blade behind the scythe head, which put Edward off balance, who took a few seconds to adjust to the weight.

"OHMYGOSHYOUUSEASCYTHETOO?!", Ruby gushed while staring at the weapon.

"Yeah, now get on with it Ruby!", Edward shouted.

Nora had to press it instead, as Ruby was preoccupied with ogling over the giant scythe.

Thirty guards again appeared, who proceeded to charge Edward. He swung the weapon around like a madman, with no form or control, but still managed to catch 3 guards with the scythe, bisecting one, decapitating the next, and finally getting the point stuck in the shoulder of the third. He ripped the blade out of the body and kicked it into a group of 5 men, confusing them. He then utilized his hidden launcher to pop a concussion round, and used the distraction to change his weapon. The scythe blade folded flat against the blade and slid down the frame of the weapon to form a sort of hand guard at the bottom, while the seemingly unnecessary sword blade rotated to where the scythe blade once was to form a giant sword. He swung the enormous blade around him, tearing apart most of the guards with the extended reach of his sword, with a strange purple fluid leaking out of the weapon with every impact. By the time the concussion effects wore off, only 7 men were left, with one wounded and that purple fluid seeping into his wound. He suddenly collapsed to the floor, with a purple gas leaking from his body. The infected guard rose from the floor, looking considerably stronger than before, and attacked his teammates. As the guard went berzerk, Edward used the time to rush forwards and impale a hologram with his sword, and pressed a button on the hilt that caused the blade to vibrate violently and expel copious amounts of the weird liquid into the hologram's body, which exploded from the pressure after a couple seconds, the shockwaves taking out what remaining guards survived the berserk's attack.

"OH. MY. GOD. THAT WAS AMAZING!" Ruby gushed, while even the energetic and leg breaking Nora looked a little stricken with the performance.

"Well, that was a little brutal…", Nora mumbled.

"What do you call that weapon?", Ruby excitedly asked.

"It falls under a category of weapons called Switch Scythes, I call this one 'Will Breaker', after the peculiar Grimm Virus it spreads. The weapon spreads the virus through blood contact. Turns people against one another.", Edward stated, folding up his weapon and holstering it on his back.*

"Now, you're up Ruby."

######

Kayla sighed as she walked into her assigned training room. 'Well what am I gonna do with them?'

She turned around and asked if the two wanted to train with anything in particular.

"Not really, what about you Pyrrha?", Blake stated.

"Nothing in particular."

"Well, guess we could work on agility then, since you two look well trained in your weapons already.", Kayla suggested.

"Sure, but I have a slight advantage.", Blake said.

"How so?", Kayla asked skeptically.

Blake proceeded to create some shadow clones and leap high into the air and dodge around mid flight using her clones to propel her.

As she dropped back down to the ground, Kayla smirked.

"So you got a few shadow people behind ya. Well, bring it on!"

"I'm sorry?", a now confused Blake questioned.

"I challenge you to a parkour competition!", Kayla announced, giving in to her competitive spirit.

"Fine.", Blake deadpanned, sure that she would win against this underdressed, overconfident girl.

Kayla walked over to a button on the wall and switched the dial to 'Terrain' rather than 'Combat', and choose the most complex map available.

The floor began to writhe and twist beneath them. It rose to form a rather high hill, which the contestants proceeded to clamber onto. They were greeted by a stunning sight, with forest spreading out to the other side of this roughly 50 meter room.

"That's all you got?", Blake snarked, confident that she would win. After all, why wouldn't she? She'd performed countless escapes with Adam during her time in the White Fang, most of them being in the forests where they utilized the element of surprise most efficiently.

"Keep on your toes kitty cat, there'll be more.", Kayla responded confidently, getting in a ready position.

Blake scowled at the nickname normally reserved for Yang, and stayed in a relaxed stance. Pyrrha decided not to get involved in this literal cat fight, and made her way to observation section.

"Ready!", Kayla yelled, while activating a mechanism on her back that unfolded into a sort of exoskeleton, with gauntlets, boots, and a helmet that only covered the upper portion of her face, stopping at the bridge of her nose.**

"Set!"

"GO!"

Both of the contestants sped off at the command, Blake launching herself far into the forest with her clone while Kayla took the traditional ground pounding method. As Blake descended, she used her clone to slow her fall while unsheathing Gambol Shroud and firing a few shots. The treeline approaching fast, she stabbed into a tree and tore down its trunk. Satisfied with her landing, she didn't get to enjoy her small victory as Kayla sped past her.

"Come on, no time for sunbathing!", she obnoxiously yelled over her shoulder.

Blake gave a tired sigh and began to run. As she sped along, she noticed that Kayla would get short bursts of speed at times, a closer examination showed that there were small jet-like protrusions from the back of her gauntlets, firing off every few seconds to give her a boost.

'Little tricks like that won't win this race for you, harlot!', Blake thought to herself, but took a second to comprehend her choice of words.

''Harlot?' Jeez, is she really grinding on me that much?'

This lapse in thought managed to trip her an a low hanging branch. As she got up, Blake noticed Kayla getting really far ahead. Gritting her teeth, she spawned clone after clone to catch up. Coupled with her advanced speed and agility from being a cat faunus, she quickly caught up with her trainer.

"Ain't so hot now are ya?", Blake yelled over the rushing wind.

"Please, this isn't even the hardest part!"

The two women burst out of the trees, Blake blinking a bit to adjust to the sudden light. That moment of distraction got her slammed full speed into a wall.

"Ooof!"

As Blake picked herself up, she saw Kayla use her boots in a similar fashion to her gauntlets, boosting over the wall with little effort. As the faunus scrambled over the wall, the forest behind lowered and the wall slid all the way back to the start of the race, with the previously untextured area behind the wall rising into apartment complexes and high rises. Blake spotted Kayla boosting and wall running a little ways ahead of her, and raced to catch up. They tore through the cityscape, with Kayla cutting across in the alleys below, boosting over dumpsters and extending her jumps by using her hook blade to grapple on random poles and pipes, while Blake avoided the cramped back streets and stuck to the roofs. They came across a four lane road, with extrusions from the floor speeding along the road as cars would in rush hour. Kayla simply boosted over the cars while Blake used her clones to provide mid air platforms to jump off of. They saw a glowing white circle stop the nearby simulated CCT, and both of them scrambled to mount the tower. Kayla boosting and grappling her way up, moving in fluid motions and making a continual ascent, while Blake used her clones and kusarigama to sort of rappel her way up in jerky and stiff manner. They reached the top at the same time however, with only 10 feet separating them from the finish line. Kayla simply ran, as she had noticed that Blake required a second to actually spawn the clone then use it. In that second she had covered 5 feet, while Blake pushed off her clone to seemingly teleport 3 feet from the finish. However, Kayla activated every single booster available at that moment, speeding through the finish line a split second before Blake crossed it.

As the buzzer sounded and the screen above the observation announced Kayla as the winner, she cheered.

"Yeah! Who's the girl? I'm da girl!", she shouted, while Blake gave her an annoyed scowl.

"Do you really think this proves anything? You only won because of that exoskeleton, not from any skill. Without that suit, you're WEAK."

Kayla recoiled from that last word, and looked at Blake with a shocked expression, which quickly turned to shame. Blake knew that look. It was the look of someone reliving some unpleasant memories, as she had so many times before.

"Guess you're right…", she mumbled as she walked dejectedly to the exit.

'Damn it Belladonna, the one person you're stuck with for this week, and you screw it up.', Blake thought to herself as she ran towards Kayla.

######

Ryan walked into his room with a overconfident Yang and a stoic Ren, and turned to face his new proteges.

"Well, I must say, this couldn't have turned out better.", he said in a very formal sounding voice.

"Even though you are well versed in the use of dual weapons, I would like to-"

"OH MY GOD!", an already bored Yang complained. "You sound just like Port! Let's just fight already!", she demanded as she cocked and loaded Ember Celica.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at this unusual request and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am! Bring it on!", she yelled as she bounded to the dueling arena located in this particular room.

Ryan smirked and stepped into the ring as well. Pulling up the bandana he wore to cover his mouth and nose, he flung his arms to his side, the force activating his gauntlets, with three large claws unfolding from his right gauntlet, and a wide leaf-shaped blade sliding from his left.***

As the two brawlers got into their stances, Ren decided he would be a good referee.

"Get ready!", he announced.

"Get set!"

"Begin!"

The pair charged at each other, with Yang leading with a well aimed right hook, but was countered by Ryan's clawed arm, catching her gauntlet and pulling it to the side while aiming a stab at her abdomen. She parried with her remaining arm, and so locked the two a pushing fight, each trying to overpower the other. Ryan realized trying to overpower Yang was pointless, and so relented on his end, which Yang leaned into, perceiving it as a weakness, but was simply a trap leading to a left blow to her chin. Yang flew backwards, and Ryan's face was etched with worry as he thought he just killed his student.

"Y-yang?"

He leaned down to the still figure, and gently tried to pull her over to get a look at the injuries. Suddenly, Yang backhanded Ryan and grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back. Recovering quickly, Ryan kicked her in the stomach to prevent being pinned to the ground.

"Well, someone has an Aura."

"Noticed that did ya? Well no point hiding it now.", Yang said as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

Ryan charged at her again, this time going for a roundhouse kick to Yang's face, which she expertly dodged. But Ryan utilized the long coattails of his trenchcoat to distract Yang, and in that split second of confusion, he managed to land a hit on her leg, causing her to fall to the ground. He then took an opportunity to get a swipe off on her head. He would regret that decision for the rest of his short life. As the lock of gold fell to the ground, Yang's eyes flared crimson, while her body lit aflame with her Semblance.

"Oh, shi-!"

######

Drake stepped into his room, glad to have left his drunk comrade behind, but was reminded of his plight when he turned to see a still fuming Weiss and a nervous looking Jaune.

"And _THAT _is why I can be insensitive sometimes!", Weiss finished with a haughty expression on her face.

"Riiiiight, anyways what weapons do you guys use again?", Drake questioned.

"Dust rapier.", came Weiss' curt response.

"Sword and shield.", said Jaune.

"Great, both you guys use one handed swords, right up my alley. Now, what would you two like to do?"

"Demonstrate my skills.", the knight said, eager to prove he was capable.

"Oooooo, getting cocky now are we? Well how 'bout a little spar then?", Drake said smiling.

"Fine, let's go!"

Jaune stepped into the arena, drawing Crocea Mors and getting into a stance. Drake chuckled and gained the attention of his 'students' by unbuckling his belt.

"W-w-what are you doing?", Weiss stammered, grateful no one was around to witness her around such scandalous behavior.

"Proving a point.", Drake simply stated.

He stepped into the arena weaponless, his cutlass and that weird rectangular box left on the floor, still clipped onto his belt. As Drake stepped into the arena, Jaune switched to an offensive position, gripping Crocea Mors with two hands. The Assassin smirked and casually stretched his arms. This caused the young knight to see red, and he yelled while charging his 'teacher'. Drake simply sidestepped, but was almost hit by the knight's surprisingly fast side swipe. Drake grabbed onto Jaune's shield, and used it as a fulcrum to hoist himself onto the boy's shoulders. As Jaune flailed wildly to throw Drake off, but he landed a few quick strikes to his neck and shoulders, and Jaune immediately froze. As he face planted from his immobile legs, Drake did an over dramatic front flip and landed on his feet.

"What was that?", Weiss asked, confused as to why Jaune seemed frozen.

"Paralysis strikes. Learned them from my Mentor, grants me the ability to bypass someone's Aura and lock them in place."

"How did you know about our Auras?"

"Come now, princess. Nothing escapes me.", Drake cryptically said, as his previously hazel brown eyes creepily glowed amber for a second.

######

The groups continued to train, except for Kayla, Blake, and Pyrrha. The Assassin had run somewhere after Blake's outburst, and the two Huntresses had resigned to waiting outside the Training Rooms. By the time the other groups filed out of their sessions, it was 6 PM.

"Oy, where's Kayla?", Edward questioned.

"I said some stuff and she ran off…", Blake shamefully said.

"Girl needs to get her shit together…", Ryan mumbled, still a little shocked at the butt kicking Yang gave him that required Ren's intervention to save his life.

"Well, guess I'm off to find her. Take them to their temporary dorm, and don't wander off. Actually, Ryan you get authority over Edward, just to be sure.", Drake said.

"Hey, why's Ryan get control?!', Edward whined.

"Exactly. He doesn't whine 'bout every little thing."

Drake rushed off, hoping to find his hurt teammate, while Ryan led the way back to the Dorms. They stopped in front of a door directly under the dorm of Team DRKE.

"This'll be your place until initiation. Has eight beds and two bathrooms. Make yourselves comfy.", Ryan said as he handed each Hunter a Scroll.

"These'll get you access to the room, so don't lose 'em. Later."

Ryan and Edward walked off to their own dorm as the Hunters entered their new abode. It was pretty nice, with an actual living room and two separate bathrooms, and a bed room with four sets of bunk beds.

"I call the shower!", Yang exclaimed, and rushed to a bathroom without grabbing and extra set of clothes.

"Nora, remind me to cover the boys' eyes when Yang comes out.", Pyrrha said.

"Got it!", Nora piped as she jumped on the top bunk of the first bed, and started singing her 'Queen of the Castle' chant.

"Blake, what happened between you and Kayla?", Ruby asked.

"I lost to a race, I said some stuff, and she left.", Blake said simply.

A low whistle. "With that indifference, Weiss is gonna lose her title of 'Ice Queen' any day now.", Jaune jested.

Ruby's scroll rang at that moment. She pulled it out and saw that Ozpin was the caller.

"Hello, Ruby?", came Ozpin's voice.

"Hey Professor, what's up?"

"Thank Monty, I thought you were gone. Where are you and your team?"

"We're in a Sanctuary of sorts. We found out who the thieves are, and we currently are under the ruse that we want to join them."

"What?! Return to Beacon immediately!", Ozpin half-yelled.

"Calm down professor, we're fine! We'll return when we find out why they stole the info, and even try to recover it. It's fine."

A short sigh. "Fine, I'll turn a blind eye and excuse you from classes, but if you get yourself hurt-"

"We'll be fine. Don't worry about us!", the ever optimistic Ruby said, and she hung up.

######

Drake found Kayla on the camouflaged dome of the Sanctuary, with the forest of Forever Fall spread out before her. She was hugging her knees when he walked over.

"Someone brought it back up?", he asked.

"Not exactly, but she gave a little reminder.", Kayla mumbled.

Drake sat down next to his teammate, and stared at her for a little bit.

"Kayla, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Drake."

He reached over and pulled her into a tight hug.

"No. You're not."

**A/N: So that's it! Sorry for the late update, I had a bit of a writer's block. A lot of things were hinted at in this chapter. What is Drake's mysterious ****power that allows him to see the truth behind someone's lies, and make him so dang romantic? What happened to Kayla that caused her to run from Blake? All those questions will be answered in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned! Speaking of Drake being romantic, I intend to throw in a little fluff like that here and there, but nothing too serious unless you guys want some more. Now, time for the references!**

***These parts are references to a gaming franchise called 'Monster Hunter', it's the closest thing to a RWBY video game we have until Rooster Teeth develops one. If you are a fan of Dark Souls, you'll probably like MH as well, though it's a damn sight less hard! Watch a few videos of Monster Hunter on YouTube, maybe you'll like it! Also, there are no such things as Switch Scythes in the game, there are instead Switch Axes, but they function the same. Also, Gore Magala is a pretty badass looking monster, RT needs to ask Capcom (the developers) for advice on new Grimm designs. Seriously, look up pictures of Gore Magala, you'll never see monsters the same.**

****I got the idea of an exoskeleton suit from trailers of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It looks pretty cool in the game, allowing players to boost over high walls and enhance their strength, and since Kayla is the parkour expert of the group, it'd be pretty useful to be able to jump over walls and do other cool parkour related things.**

**That's it, this is the Wong-man signing off until next time, bye bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, The Wong is back, and with a new chapter no less! Well, not really a new chapter, as it's kinda short, but I had something come up today and I need a builder for the next chapter. I'm sorry!**

Chapter 6

The next day, Drake had woken the Hunters early for an emergency meeting. The two teams stalked out of their rooms, with nearly everyone harboring anger towards the Assassin, though some showed it more than others.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for waking us up…" Yang muttered.

"That I do, Yang. The Grandmasters want to see their new students."

The group shuffled down the hall to the empty Inner Sanctum.

"Where is everyone?" Ruby asked.

"On missions. With all the resources those damned Templars have we need every capable man and woman out fighting them." Drake answered.

"Templars?", Blake questioned.

"Ah, I forget, you are new to this age old conflict. The Templars are individuals who wish to rob the people of freedom, to control the kingdoms and their governments."

"That's terrible!" Ruby exclaimed.

"But not without cause. The Templars would see all of us in a neat and furnished prison, robbed of choice, yet safe and sober. Sometimes, good men must do bad things to make the world right." Drake defended.

"Since when did you feel so sympathetic to the enemies' cause? You aren't defecting are you?" Ryan asked.

"Don't any of you remember what the Mentor taught us? 'You cannot hope to defeat the enemy, if you can't understand them.'" Drake scolded.

"And who is this 'Mentor' you keep mentioning?" Weiss inquired.

"Each new team of recruits is assigned a Mentor to tutor them. Normally it is four students to one Mentor, but the recent lack of skill caused the Grandmasters to become more selective and reduce the number to two recruits per Mentor." Drake explained.

They were now standing in front of the large doors leading to the catacombs. As they creaked open, the Hunters were greeted with a slightly unsettling sight. The walls of the catacombs were lined with slide out tombs stacked against the walls, with some sarcophaguses having their own individual plots, with hooded clothing on mannequins in front of them.

"What's so special about these guys?" Yang whispered, pointing to one of the individual plots.

"They are the resting place of outstanding Assassins, those who had achieved great feats of kindness, on par with even the greatest of Huntsmen, if a touch less appreciated. The robes you see on display before their graves belonged to the Assassin laid to rest. The most notable of these great men and women are Altair Ibn La Ahad, our founder, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the deposed nobleman who single handedly took down three regimes of Templars, Edward James Kenway, the pirate who became the most wanted by the Schnee, and his grandson Conner, a mix of human and faunus heritage who fought for his kind." Drake explained.*

They approached a forum of sorts, which was a curved wall embossed with the Assassin's Crest, flanked by carvings of eagles and griffons. Four podiums were perched atop the wall, presumably for the Grandmasters to use. Before the wall was a kneeling stand for a visitor to pay their respects. Drake approached the stand and kneeled, flanked by his teammates who placed their left hand over their hearts, folding back their ring fingers.

"Grandmasters Adler, Shawn, Sue, and Nicholas. Team DRKE has arrived, as requested." Drake announced.

"Indeed. Rise, Assassin." a voice echoed from the shadows. Four figures stepped forwards atop the wall, clothed in simple grey one piece robes, hoods shadowing their faces. They took their places at the podiums.

"We have called you here today to discuss Templar movements. There have been reports of shady activity in the South-East corner of Vale, in the abandoned settlement of Mountain Glenn. You will be dispatched to the area to scout it out." the leftmost figure spoke.

"Of course sir, we'll leave immediately." Drake responded, and made to move.

"Hold, Drake. I would like to remind you that this is a _scouting_ mission. No acts of bravado, no unnecessary risks, and no open combat. This isn't a 'death or glory' deal." the person second from the right spoke up.**

"Of course, Grandmaster. I'm the very soul of caution." Drake said.

"Right…" Edward muttered, while Drake gave him a hard stare.

"As for your new recruits…", the figure second to the left looked at the Hunters, "Meet Alan Starling at the memory rooms, the one you were first held at. He will occupy you while Team DRKE is gone."

"Yes, sir!" Ruby said.

"Good. you are all dimissed." the rightmost figure declared, and all four retreated back into the shadows.

When the group reached the exit to the catacombs, the Hunters and Assassin's parted ways.

"Be seeing you guys later, make your way straight to the memory rooms would you? Don't feel like putting up with problems today." Drake said.

"Yeah, see you!" Ruby responded.

Drake grunted in response, and led his team to the exit.

######

When Teams RWBY and JNPR made it to the memory rooms, Alan was waiting.

"Morning all. You ready to see how we find out stuff?" he asked.

"Sure." came the bored responses.

Alan led the way into the area. They passed the interrogations rooms where they were held, and entered a huge chamber filled with cubicles that contained computer screens and people watching said screens.

"What're these thingys?" Nora asked while trying to stick her head in one of the cubicles.

"These machines are called the Animus. They allow the user to experience their own ancestral genetic memories using small blood samples. In short, you can relive your own and your ancestors' experiences. Which you will be doing today."***

The Hunters froze at this, while Blake spoke up.

"You know, we aren't very comfortable with that kinda stuff, so do you think we could pass?"

"No. Every initiate has to do this."

Yang snapped out of her fear of being revealed and joined in. "Aw, come on Alan, let us go!" she whined, while pushing out her chest and pouting, hoping to distract Alan into saying yes. And to no one's surprise, it worked.

"Well, I guess I could create fake entries…" Alan muttered while staring at Yang's chest.

"Great, I knew you could do it!"

They made their way to the section labeled 'Group Viewing'. Inside was a large 100 inch T.V. with huge speakers and seats, complete with soundproof walls so as not to disturb anyone outside.

"Man this place is decked out!" Yang exclaimed while jumping into a padded seat in the front row.

As everyone else took their places, Alan turned on the computer hooked up to the screen.

"Since you guys insisted on skipping the usual Animus session, what do you guys want to watch?" Alan asked.

"Well you said these things could help us relive memories, right?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well why don't we watch some of Team DRKE's memories?" the knight suggested.

"Yeah!" the whole group responded.

"Sure, why not." Alan said as he selected the memories from the console.

**A/N: There it is folks! I hope you're hyped for seeing the history behind Drake, Ryan, Kayla, and Edward. WARNING: The next chapters will be VERY DARK! Please stop reading if you are easily offended by swearing, blood and implied sexual scenes. There's a reason why this fic is labeled as a 'Hurt/Tragedy' type story. I'll probably have to change the rating to M before publishing it. Now for the references in this chapter.**

***This is nothing new for most of you, as you are probably reading this if you've played AC and watched RWBY before, but if you are here and only have experience with RWBY, these are the protagonists in all the mainstream AC games released so far.**

****This is another reference to Skyrim. Those lines are close to what the Jarl of Whiterun says to Irileth in the first dragon slaying mission. For those of you who don't have Skyrim, get it! It's an amazing open world game.**

***** Again, this is for those with no experience with AC. The Animus is the machine used in-game to relive the memories of Desmond Miles' ancestors.**

**That's all for now, again, the next chapter will be very dark, do not wave off this warning! And with that lovely note scaring off most of my readers, this is The Wong saying goodbye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey, I'm back with a stupidly long chapter, but this one's revealing backstory about the Assassins. This particular chapter will be showing off Edward's story, and the rest of DRKE will come next. By the way, this chapter contains naval combat and terms, and seeing as I don't know jack squat about naval things, please don't bash me for misusing stuff. I will be making up naval weapons, so if you somehow have experience with naval combat, please don't hate me! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DEATH, SWEARING, DRINKING, AND IMPLIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES. PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED. The next chapters will be much worse, so enjoy the relative tameness of this chapter for now. Also, the chapters will be not be coming out as often, due to school and their length, so yeah. Credit to Dark DescendantHG for proofreading this.**

Chapter 7

"Welcome to Animus Omega, the primary genetic research program of the Assassins. Please select your memories." a calm female voice emanated from the speakers.

Alan typed in the names of Team DRKE in the search bar and pulled over their memories into the cue list, and clicked on Edward's name first.

"You have selected research subject 'Edward George Young'. Born in Vacuo, September 17, 1990. Proceeding to memories."

The screen turned a light blue, with guidelines and textures appearing all over the screen, branching outwards.

"Here we go." Alan announced.

######

_**June, 2000. Vacuo.**_

"Come on Edward! I found something just here!"

_A young Edward scrambled up a hill, following a girl about the same age._

"Come on, slowpoke!" _the girl whined_.

"Jaysus Katherine, slow down! Is this really that important?!"

"Of course Edward! Now hurry!"

_The pair made their way down the hill, and entered a forest. They trudged along the path, and made their way to a clearing surrounded by roses._

"Wow…" _Edward breathed._

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" _Katherine said with pride._

"Yeah, romantic too…" _Edward smirked while glancing at a blushing Katherine._

"I-I thought so too." _she stammered._

_Edward's face grew suddenly serious, and after taking her hand in his, he tilted her lowered face up to meet his._

"Katherine, I've been meaning to say something for a very long time…", he trailed. "I…_like _like you."

_Katherine's eyes grew wide in surprise, a look of shock quickly replaced by a bright smile._

"Me too!" _she cheerfully exclaimed._

_They both smiled at the other's confessions, and held hands in the clearing for a time, enjoying the peace. They remained like this until sunset, at which point Edward walked his crush home._

_They reached a rather large mansion, lavishly decorated for the average Vacuo home. The man bursting out the door confirmed that this was no ordinary family, though. He was dressed in a suit and tie, with slacks and dress shoes. He was Mr. Dred Scott, CEO of Scott Security, the most successful private protection agency in Remnant._

"Katherine! Thank Monty, I thought you were hurt! Where have you been?!" _he asked_.

"Relax, father. I was just out on the town with Edward here." _Katherine responded while gesturing to Edward._

"You must tell me these kind of things in the future! You had me worried sick, young lady." _he scolded_.

"Of course dad. See you later, Edward!" _Katherine waved_.

_As Edward waved goodbye, he heard Katherine's father whisper to her, _"I thought I told you to keep away from the simpletons?"

_**August, 2010. Vacuo.**_

"You've found love so early?" _Mr. Scott inquired with a raised eyebrow_.

"Yes, father. If the marriage is alright with you?" _Katherine nervously responded_.

"Of course, darling! I was just surprised, that's all. So who is the lucky lad?" _Katherine's father asked with a cheery tone._

_Encouraged by her father's reaction, Katherine bubbled out, _"Edward Young!"

_Mr. Scott's expression quickly fell at this statement. _"You can't be serious?"

"Of course I am!" _came her agitated response._

_Mr. Scott sighed, and said, _"Katherine, these past few years, you have proven yourself perfectly capable of fending for yourself. You introduced me to this Edward fellow, and I must admit, he's a very nice man, more so than most common folk-"

"Then what is there to discuss?!" _Katherine yelled._

"The Schnees. They have given us an offer to enter a joint business deal with them. Their shipping containers have come under attack by pirates calling themselves 'The Flying Gang'. We give them support in the form of our private navy, and the Schnees give us a cut of their profits."*

"So you would sacrifice your daughter's happiness for money?!" _Katherine yelled incredulously._

"No, of course not! I've come up with another way for you two to be together."

"Well, let's hear it then." _she said in a slightly bitter tone._

"I'll take on Edward as a sailor on one of the ships. He'll get an advanced rank, higher pay, and will get to see you during the times when the ship comes back to port. It might not be the best of solutions, but please, Katherine. Not only for me, but for your well being." _Mr. Scott pleaded._

_Katherine thought for a while, and responded, _"It's not ideal, but I'll do it for you, father."

"Thank you, Katherine."

**Two months later…**

_Edward held Katherine's hand as he prepared to board the ship. It was quite the beast, a military class cruiser with a large amount of armor. Equipped with a naval ram, two flak cannons sitting on the stern, a pair of explosive carronades mounted under the helm, an anti-air cannon mounted on the helm, 6 auto cannons mounted three to a side on the bridge, a rail gun mounted right behind the command tower, a pair of mortars at the back of the bridge, two torpedo launchers under the hull, a mine layer, and machine guns in case of boardings the ship was the best medium sized defense vessel the Scotts could provide._

"Edward, will you be alright?" _Katherine nervously asked, eyeing the rough looking men waiting on deck._

"Katherine, I'll be fine. This is what I've trained for. Besides, you'll always be in my head, keeping me going." _Edward assured, tapping on his head on the last sentence._

"Come on, boy! You're holding up the ship!" _the captain of the cruiser, Captain Hawkes barked._

"You'd better come back safe, Edward Young, you hear me?" _Katherine told Edward._

"Of course! I'll be seeing you soon, Katherine. Goodbye!" _Edward said while waving goodbye from the rising gangplank._

"Goodbye!"

######

_Edward walked into the mess hall of the cruiser, the S.S. Guardian. The sailors were gathered here, mostly drinking instead of eating. As Edward picked up his food from the kitchen, a man stumbled towards him._

"Well, well! If it isn't the great and powerful Lieutenant, the landlubber who got his title by the favor of Mr. Scott!" _the man slurred out._

"What the _fuck, _did you just say?!" _Edward growled in anger._

"Oooooh, is someone mad? You heard right, scum! You don't belong here. You only got this spot by pleasing Katherine!" _the man yelled._

"You'd better shut your gob 'fore I fill it with shot, you hear me?!" _Edward threatened in a low voice.**_

"Yeah? Well the fuck you gonna do about it?" _the man challenged, as six men approached the area._

_Edward suddenly punched the man in the nose, kneed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and threw him into a table._

"You bastard!" _a man shouted._

"Hey, he started it."

_He didn't get to say anymore as a man came from behind, grabbed him, broke his nose with a well aimed punch, and threw Edward into the food counter._

_The six men helped the original challenger up, and he decided he'd further insult a now raging Edward._

"Not so tough are ya now, cunt?" _he mocked, gesturing to his cronies._

_Edward said nothing, instead opting to rush forwards and knock out a man with a metal tray. The leader and his five remaining men got ready to fight. Two of them rushed at Edward, who slammed the edge of the tray into the head of the man closest to him, and used the momentum left in the swing to block the punch of the other man. From under the tray, Edward kicked at the man's knee, twisting it at a weird angle. As the man fell to the floor, he delivered a roundhouse kick to another attacker who tried to land a hook on Edward from behind him. He turned around and slammed the flat of the tray into the head of the kneeling assailant, using so much force as to dent the makeshift weapon, then curb stomped the man behind him. The four circling vagrants paused for a second, rethinking their choices after seeing Edward knock out three of their comrades. One man noticed a kitchen cleaver and grabbed it. All of the men ran at Edward, spurred on by the fact that one of them have a weapon. Edward ducked under the attacks, allowing two of the assailants to punch each other. While the two men recoiled, the leader aimed a kick at Edward, who rolled to the side and blocked a slash from the cleaver, getting it partially stuck in the tray. Edward kicked punched the man in his gut, spun around him and kicked him to the floor. Edward flipped the tray, pulled the cleaver out, and then used the flat of the knife to dent and shape a sort of handle out of the rather large dent left in the tray from his earlier strikes. Now with a makeshift shield and cleaver in hand, the goons began to back off. Edward made to end the naysayers, when Captain Hawkes barged in._

"What is the meaning of this? Mr. Young, would you care to explain yourself?!" _the annoyed captain roared.***_

"It's really quite simple captain. These vagrants were-"***

"We were simply passing the time with a bit of sport captain! Nothing wrong with some entertainment at dinner, is there?" _a man from the silent crowd interrupted.***_

"How about you pass the time by doing your goddamned jobs? I wasn't aware I was paying you to lull about. A word, Mr. Young." _the captain ordered, pointing at Edward to follow.***_

_Edward dropped his weapons, and stalked past the mystery man, giving him a strange look as he passed._

_As they walked to the captain's quarters, the captain started his reprimand._

"I don't much care for you Young. This is your first voyage, and you've already done nothing but trouble."***

"Your problems have nothing to do with me." _Edward defended.***_

"I'm sorry?" _the captain asked incredulously.***_

"You're cruel and ill mannered, and it's clear your crew has no respect for you." _Edward spat.***_

_The captain nearly punched open the door to his quarters, and said, _"Look, I'm not going to spend all night arguing this point with you. I in fact need your help." _the captain bitterly said.***_

"Oh this is rich…" _Edward snarked.***_

"Don't think you have any leverage. As the crew are acting suspiciously, I am compelled to turn to you." _the captain spat back.***_

"Really? _I _have no leverage? Have you forgotten how I reached the rank of Lieutenant in the first place?" _Edward asked._

_The captain's face grew worried as he remembered that the man before him had ties to the Scotts._

"Well, when you put it that way, then I politely ask for your help, _Mr. Young._" _the captain said, voicing his hate as he spoke Edward's name._

_Edward smirked at his apparent victory, and in a sickenly sweet voice asked, _"Well what seems to be the matter, _Captain_?"

"I fear some of the crew plan a mutiny-"***

"Oh dear, whatever could be the reason?" _Edward interrupted in fake shock, rubbing in his statement from earlier._

"_I can't imagine why._" the captain ground out, biting back his tongue to prevent him from saying something that would make him lose his job. "Anyway, I need your help in finding out when and why they are planning this."

"And what's in it for me?"

"Your life. Seeing as how well you 'handled' the situation back there, the crew won't hesitate for a second to throw you overboard when their plan succeeds. Now do we have a deal?" _the captain said matter-of-factly, while pouring himself a shot of rum.***_

"We do." _Edward leaned in close, and threatened, _"But should you _ever _dare to insult or threaten me again, I won't hesitate to _cut your head off, myself. _Are we clear?"***

_The captain only nodded nervously in response, while Edward took the shot of rum and drank it for himself. _"Good night."***

_Edward walked into the crew's quarters, where a few men were hanging out. He saw the man who 'defended' him earlier, and walked up to him._

"Oy."

_The man turned around, and said, _"Nice meeting you too, Mr. Young."

_Edward narrowed his eyes at the man and cautiously asked, _"How do you know my name?"

"You'd be amazed at the things that slip when two people are close to each other. More specifically that heartwarming goodbye at the docks." _the man said with a smirk._

_Edward began to get angry again as he asked, _"The _hell _are you implying?!"

"Nothing at all. Just making an observation." _the man stated calmly._

_Edward backed off a little, and asked, _"Well with that out of the way, you care to tell me your name?"

"Mason." _the man replied._

_Edward again grew suspicious at the man's secrecy with his full name, but decided to drop the subject._

_Remembering the task given to him by the captain, he decided to ask this seemingly 'know-it-all' about the situation. _"So Mason, what is this talk of mutiny on board this ship?"

"Mutiny? Wherever did you hear that dreadful word?"

"Don't play stupid around me. No one is dense and ignorant enough to not notice the hatred for the captain of this ship. Especially a perceptive one such as you, Mason.

"Oh, 'perceptive'? How flattering. I did notice people talking of betrayal on board. Try checking the cargo bay…"

_Mason stepped away from Edward at this point and gave a small smile, as if he was hiding something._

"Well, that was interesting…" _Edward thought. He was confused at first, but quickly shook it off, he needed to find this clue before he missed his chance. He ran down to the cargo bay, sliding down stair railings and shoving people out of the way._

"What the hell man?!"

"Sorry mate, I'll buy ya a drink!"

_He made it to the cargo bay, but decided against charging in guns-a-blazing, and opted to try stealth. He slowly pushed the door open, and lowered into a crouch behind some crates._

"So what's the plan?" _a voice sounded from the shadows._

"Simple right, we just kill the captain, disconnect the Scotts communications, and we make off with all these little goodies."

"Don't you think someone'll try and stop us?"

"No, got the whole crew on board backing this idea. Only problem is our so called 'leader', Mason. Guy's taken a liking to that prick Young, might start running off our secrets to 'im."

_Edward furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of the other man's name, and shifted closer to the conversation by sneaking behind a stack of barrels._

"No matter, if Edward gets in the way, we'll just kill 'im. Though he's a rough kinda guy, might be good to have with us."

"Let's just have faith that Mason can keep that guy under control."

"Right, mate. Now that I think about it, what's the plan after the mutiny?"

"We'll be pirates, man! Life on the open sea, with no one to answer to but ourselves!"

"Actually, with no one to answer to but Mason."

"The hell you talking 'bout?"

"He's the one leading us, he gets to be the new captain."

"Hell no, we should all be free, with no higher ups!"

"Quiet, you two." _a third voice cut in. _"We'll decide the rules and positions as soon as the mutiny's done. For now, we focus on that first."

"Agreed, now let's move, don't want the captain to catch us after curfew."

_The three men walked out of the cargo bay, with Edward following suit a minute after._

'Well, that's interesting.' _Edward thought to himself, and made his way to the crew's quarters._

"Find out everything you need?"

"Ah! Damn Mason, don't sneak up on me like that!"

_The shady man stepped out from behind a corner._

"As a matter of fact I did Mason." _Edward replied. _"Found out all about your little plan, and how you're gonna do it."

_A small smirk made its way onto the lips of the other man._

"And what do you think of our 'little plan', Edward?"

"I think it'd work, if it weren't for me wanting to get back to shore alive."

_Mason raised an eyebrow._

"Whatever makes you think you won't make it through this?"

"I heard what you plan to do to me after the captain is gone, and I'd rather keep this head on these shoulders. Which is why I'm headed to Comms right now to-"

"Stop. I know that you're a good samaritan, but think of the benefits of sticking with us." _Mason said, as his hidden left eye, concealed by his rather long brown hair, softly glowed purple. His Semblance of Suggestion began to kick in. Edward felt a strange feeling wash over him as Mason said the following words._

"We would be free from the shackles of society, allowed to carve our own way in this world. All the lein you could spend, all the women you could bed, and all the rum you could drink." _Mason suavely said, every word made all the more enticing by his Semblance. _"I'll make you the captain of this fine vessel, and these men will follow your every command. Now doesn't that sound far, far better than returning to Vacuo and the Scotts, with a meager pay, authorities on your back, and having to follow every stupid whim of the government?"

_Edward didn't feel right, and yet he still managed to say, _"Y-yeah. Sounds great…"

"Wonderful, you see! I knew we could get along!"_, Mason said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice and a smirk twisting his face, unnoticed by Edward, who was still under the trance-like state Mason had invoked in him._

_As Mason disappeared around a corner, Edward snapped out the dreamy state he was in, and held his head as he stumbled to his room._

"Urgh, I don't feel right…" _he mumbled, still woozy from the encounter. As he opened the door to his room and collapsed on his bed, he was overcome by a throbbing darkness._

######

"Wakey, wakey."

"Urgh…"

_Edward groaned as he woke up, only to be quickly silenced and frightened by a looming Mason sitting on his bed._

"Today's the day, champ. Time for the mutiny."

_Edward again felt slightly strange, as Mason's Semblance activated, unknown to him, but the long term effects of the Suggestion were taking his toll on Edward. Mason could sense that his protege would soon act on his own, yet still follow his exact plan for him. As the soon-to-be-captain got dressed in his Scott officer uniform, which consisted of a white collared dress shirt, a brown modern trenchcoat that covered the front of his legs, and a lighter brown vest with red and blue accents, cream colored trousers and knee high boots._

"You look ready. Now come on, time to go." _Mason said, and led Edward out of the room. They walked out of the crews quarters and made their way to the wheel. The crew followed them as they passed, and soon a group of 30 men were heading towards the command tower._

"I'm telling you Mr. Scott, these men are traitors! I need a dispatch now!" _Captain Hawkes half-yelled into the radio in the room._

BANG.

_Mason had produced a pistol from his pocket and shot the radio and the captain's hand clean off. As he screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor, Mason spoke up._

"Sorry about that sir, but we can't have you doing that." _Mason calmly said._

"You goddamned rouges! I'll have you all hanged!"

"No, sir." _Mason said, while bracing the barrel of the gun against the fallen man's head. _"I rather think, you won't."

BANG.

_Mason motioned for the gathered crew members to clean up the mess, and turned to Edward._

"Well, the deed is done. Time for you to step up, friend. Come and take your place at the wheel." _he said while motioning to the wheel of the cruiser._

"OY! Why the hell does he get to be captain?!" _a crew member yelled from the crowd._

"Yeah! He's just some scrub fresh out of training, why's he get to lead us?!" _another man shouted._

_Mason and Edward turned to the crowd, swords and guns drawn._

"If anyone would like to challenge this decision, please, step up here." _Mason calmly stated, motioning to a eager Edward, waiting to cut down the naysayers._

_None of the crew were so bold as to challenge Edward, and a pregnant silence fell over the group for several seconds._

"If there are no challengers, I'll assume this is acceptable to everyone. Mr. Young, please take the wheel."

_Edward stepped up to the wheel and declared, _"Right then lads, to stations!"

_As the crew scurried off to their respective jobs, Mason remained._

"Do you have something to say, Mason?" _Edward asked._

"As a matter of fact, I do Captain. I do not doubt your skills as a fighter, but as a seaman, you might need a little work. So I propose I become your Quartermaster, an advisor to help you on this new journey. What do you say?" _Mason suggested, barely even having to use his Semblance at this point._

"Of course!" _Edward excitedly agreed. _"And as Quartermaster, what is your first bit of advice for this tyro captain?"**

"The crew are not very keen to your becoming captain, so for now do nothing to agitate them, and keep an eye out for opportunities to prove yourself to them, alright?"

_Edward nodded, and said, _"Right then. I'll try to hold my tongue for now."

"Great, now to teach you how to work this vessel." _Mason said, while he showed Edward the controls._

_**A few days later…**_

"Ship sighted, captain!"

"Details man!" _Edward commanded the sailor._

"Frigate, light armor, no guns larger than 40 mm sir!" _the man shouted back._

"To stations lads, we're taking this one!" _Edward shouted._

"Are you sure we can take this ship Captain?" _Mason asked._

"Of course, man. Or do you have so little faith in your own teaching skills?" _Edward taunted._

"Of course not. Go right ahead." _the Quartermaster replied._

_The newly dubbed _Sabre_, renamed by Edward the night before, charged its first opponent. When about 600 meters away from the ship, the _Sabre _turned a broadside to the frigate, and opened fire with its flak cannons. The roar of the guns signaled the release of five Dust coated 144 mm shells from each gun. The ten shells had heat seeking Dust covering them, allowing them to hit the frigate full on despite its evasive maneuvers. The lightly armored frigate stood no chance against the shells, and was dead in the water after that first volley. The crew gave a cheer, and replaced the rounds in the auto cannons with barbed harpoons tied to the back of the weapons. The _Sabre _closed in on its victim, and when close the crew fired the harpoons, which pierced the light armor of the frigate, and they tugged the unfortunate vessel closer to them. The men brought out rifles and Dust swords and prepared to board, while some manned the machine guns and laid cover fire on the deck of the frigate. The ships grated together, and Edward along with his crew jumped aboard. But their spirit was crushed when a Huntsman stepped out from below deck. The Huntsman proudly wore a full set of knight's armor and the badge of Beacon, which is how he was identified as such, and drew a large greatsword from his back. But as he was about to lay waste to the criminals, a strange black mist crept onboard. The air darkened considerably, and clouds blotted out the sun. Suddenly, a screech eerily resembling human screams pierced the air, and a great flapping could be heard. A black form swooped down from the skies, sweeping several of the men into the ocean. The creature reared itself, and inspected its opponents. The creature was a four legged dragon-like creature, with seemingly no eyes, and strange claw-like bumps on its shoulders, with a leathery cape-like thing attached and fluttering in the light breeze. The men on board were frozen in place, unable to move from fear of attracting attention. All except the Huntsman, who stepped forwards and got into a fighting stance. The dragon sensed this challenge, and also prepared to fight. The claw-like structures on its back shifted, and revealed themselves to actually be a pair of 'arms' folded onto its back, which had webbing attached to them allowing for flight. The third pair of appendages were braced onto the ground, their purpose now as the fifth and sixth legs of the monster, who let out a bloodcurdling roar. The Huntsman rushed forwards, with the ordinary sailors looking for cover. The monster charged the Huntsman, who rolled to the side, but was unprepared for the side swipe courtesy of the extra arms. As the Huntsman was smashed into a wall, Edward took the opportunity to join the fray, and cut at an exposed patch of hide the creature's exoskeleton failed to protect.****_

'Why in God's name did I do that?!' _Edward asked himself as the monster turned its attention to him. He was saved by the Huntsman slashing at the creature's hide, which caused it to leap backwards and take flight._

_Edward helped the Huntsman up, and asked, _"So how the hell are we going to kill that Grimm?"

"Dunno, friend. Thanks for the assist, but that doesn't look like a Grimm to me. More like a-" _the Huntsman was cut off by the monster swooping down again._

"We'll worry 'bout the terminology later yeah? You, get on the anti-air gun!" _Edward shouted to one of his crew members still on his ship._

"Wait, you're part of the pirates who attacked us?!" _the Huntsman yelled._

"Save the lecture for after this! We can duke it out after this thing's dead." _Edward said._

_The Huntsman couldn't say anything else over the sudden firing of the _Sabre's _AA gun. A roar could be heard from the skies, implying the monster was hit. It dive bombed the frigate and landed with a crash, rocking the vessel with its weight. A few of Edward's braver crewmen climbed back onto the _Sabre _and opened fire with the machine guns. The Huntsman glared at Edward, but gave a nod affirming his cooperation for now. He jumped high into the air with an Aura assisted leap, and chopped the distracted monster on the back, causing it to fall low enough for the non Aura using Edward to stab it in the neck. The creature roared and thrashed around. But Edward still held on, and emptied a clip from his pistol into where he supposed the eyes should be. He was thrown off, and crashed into a bunch of barrels. As he recovered, the Huntsman landed a blow to its head, and slammed the flat of his blade onto the same spot. The monster was briefly stunned from the attack, and its scales were again assaulted by machine gun fire. It roared again, but this time its body began changing. During the roar, the underside of its wings, the area where its eyes should be, and its claws started glowing a dark purple, and a black gas began leaking from its mouth. Two horns erupted from its head, which were also glowing purple. After its roar, it reared up, a purple glow emanating from its mouth. It violently slammed its head down onto the deck, unleashing a whirlwind of purple and black gas swirling around its body. It spun around a few times, whipping several men off the frigate, and slammed both of its extra arms down in the general area of the Huntsman. He was barely able to dodge, but was caught off guard by the monster's tail. As he tripped, Edward charged forwards, firing his pistol. The monster attempted to crush him with its legs, but Edward ducked and slashed it a few times on the belly. Rolling out from under the beast, Edward stuck the tail with his cutlass, and ran along its length, severely wounding it. The Huntsman regained footing and with one well placed cut, severed the tail. The monster flailed about, and spat out three globs of purple fluid. The pair dodged, and rushed the monster again, with the Huntsman getting a side swipe off on its leg, and Edward again jumping on to the monster. He impaled the beast with his sword, and took out a dagger strapped to his leg, and stabbed the monster again and again with it. The Huntsman took this opportunity to place a Dust bomb under the monster, who procceded to step on it. The Dust exploded, throwing Edward off and blasting a few chunks of the beast's armor off. It roared again, and charged the duo. The Huntsman tried to dodge, but taking those big hits meant his Aura was down, and unable to give him the boost needed to perform a high enough jump. The Huntsman was thrown aside, while Edward made a passing run and cut the creature on its leg. It collapsed from the sustained hits on that particular leg, giving Edward enough time to pin it with his cutlass. But the creature still writhed, and Edward was weaponless. The injured Huntsman made a last attempt to help out, and threw his blade at the pirate, who caught it and drove it into the monster's chest. It wriggled for a few more seconds before going limp. Edward released the blade, and stepped back from the body._

"Hurrah!" _his crew cheered, while the crew of the frigate stared open mouthed at something else._

_Edward turned around to where the men were staring, and found the injured Huntsman. He had removed his helmet, and was clutching his left arm, which had some of that purple fluid leaking into the wound. He gave Edward a weak smile before his head lolled to the side. Edward shuffled closer to the body, to see if he was really dead. Suddenly the Huntsman jerked about, a purple gas leaking from his mouth and wound. After a few moments of this, the injured Huntsman leaped onto his feet. _

_His head jerked up, and he whispered to Edward, "Run."_

_He then lashed out and grabbed Edward by the collar. He tried to break free, but couldn't escape the now super strong Huntsman's grip. Mason stepped out from behind cover and unloaded a few rounds into the Huntsman's head. The bullets bounced off as if the Huntsman's Aura was still at full strength. He turned his head to Mason, and rushed him, smacking both of them into the wall. A few crew members picked up their rifles and opened fire on the Huntsman. He turned his attention to the crew, while Edward and Mason recovered. The crew were getting beaten down, but Edward and Mason opened fire again. The Huntsman rushed the pair, but Edward managed to roll past him and retrieve the greatsword from the dragon's carcass. He hefted the rather light blade, and impaled the Huntsman through the chest._

"Thanks for that." _Mason calmly said, dusting himself off._

"No problem. Shame about the Huntsman, though." _Edward said with a slightly sad expression._

"No major loss. That dragon though," _Mason gestured to the dead monster, _"is a good catch. Let's haul it aboard. And get you some new clothes." _he said, motioning to Edward's no longer new trench coat._

_Edward examined his damaged attire, which was ripped on both sides, forming two tattered sections in the front to hang down to his knees, and the rest of the trench coat reaching halfway down his shins, with the sides of the coat torn off._

"Ya know, this isn't so bad. Gives me more freedom while running. I'll just keep this. But I agree on the dragon issue, might have to make a weapon from that." _Edward dismissed._

"Whatever you think best, Captain."

_Edward ordered his crew to attach hooks to the dragon, who now obeyed without question, the newfound respect from killing a monster sinking in. The upstart pirates boarded the _Sabre_, and left behind the crippled frigate to its fate._

_**The next evening…**_

_Edward walked up to the command tower to take the wheel back from Mason, who had covered for him all day._

"I'll take the wheel now Mason, thanks for the favor."

"Of course, captain. Might I ask, what were you doing this whole time?" _Mason inquired._

"Building this lil' thing!" _Edward said, proudly patting the mechanism on his back._

"And what exactly _IS _that thing?"

"My new weapon, _Willbreaker_. I used the hardest parts of the monster's armor to form the scythe blade, mounted it on the Huntsman's greatsword, and found some spare gears to allow the blade to fold and rotate. At the flip of a switch, the scythe will fold and slide down to my hands, and a sword blade also made of the monster's parts will take it's place, creating a giant sword."

"I never knew you were so good with mechanics." _Mason said, impressed. _"Sounds heavy though, can you still use it effectively?" _he asked._

"Yeah, that's the greatest part. The original greatsword and the monster's parts are weirdly light, so this thing isn't all that heavy! Plus, the Huntsman's armor was repairable, so I modified it to be able to fold into my coat and unfold in seconds!" _Edward happily said, tapping a button under his wrist to show off his new armor._

"Well, that's great. But if I recall correctly, that monster had a dangerous fluid contained in it. Did you ingest any?"

"Nope. Even better, I've also found the source of the weird poison, and made use of it in my weapon!"

"Well that's grand. Not to cut you short, but I really must get some sleep."

"Of course, Mason. Take a load off."

_**The next day…**_

"Ship sighted aft, sir!"

"What class?"

"Military level, heavy destroyer sir! Medium armor, a few large guns, and a missile launcher on board, captain!"

"We can take her. All men to stations!" _Edward yelled, eager to claim another prize._

_The _Sabre _charged its opponent, with Edward again firing the flak cannons when within range. The armor of the ship minimized the damage, but it was still shaken from the impact. The destroyer turned to a broadside to the _Sabre_, and opened fire with all of its light cannons. The heavy armor of the _Sabre _assured the vessel barely took damage, and Edward continued his charge. The carronades went off, the thunderous boom of the explosive shells hitting the destroyer filled the air. The destroyer again let loose a volley of light cannon fire, but accented it with a heavy 144 mm shell and a missile. The heavy ordinance crashed into the armor of the cruiser, and dented it considerably, while the missile luckily flew wide. As Edward picked himself up from the shock of being hit, he noticed a portion of the destroyer's armor weakened by the carronades. He yanked on the wheel, turning the naval ram at the front to face the weakened section and shouted to a nearby crew member, _"Overdrive the Dust engines!"

_The crew member rushed down to the engine room, and pulled a lever. The engines began to emit a noticeable warmth, and started to glow slightly red. Back topside, the cruiser gained a considerable boost in speed. The ship slammed full force into the destroyer, the naval ram tearing open a hole in the ship's hull. Edward turned the _Sabre _away, letting off a volley from the auto cannons. The _Sabre _pulled away from the destroyer, allowing seawater to flow into the gaping hole left by the ram. As the stern turned towards the destroyer, Edward let loose some mines from the minelayer, which landed on the deck of the destroyer and detonated on deck, sending the ship's crew into chaos._

_Edward pressed the buttons on the communications dashboard corresponding to the firing room of the auto cannons and the engine room, and yelled into the microphone, _"Load the harpoons and cut the engines!"

_The loaders in the firing rooms shoved roped harpoons into the chambers of the auto cannons, while the crew member in the engine room pressed the emergency stop button, stalling the cruiser. Back at the wheel, Edward turned the _Sabre _in place, faced the broadside loaded with harpoons to the destroyer, and fired. The harpoons pierced the hull of the destroyer, and started tugging the two ships together. Edward pressed the button on the dashboard that connected to all of the areas and said, _"Prepare for a rushed boarding! We can't stay long, the seawater is gonna sink that ship in minutes!"

_Edward's crew started to leap aboard the destroyer, with machine gun fire to cover them. The destroyer's crew fought back, and Edward soon had to jump in to help out. Amid the rifle fire, the captain charged in, unsheathing his new weapon. The scythe spun in wide arcs, catching many sailors and flinging them off the side. With Mason at his back to cover his blind spots, the pair forced their way to the other ship's control room. Bursting through the door, they found the captain trying to call for support. Edward noticed a pirate getting beat down, and sent Mason to help him._

"Mason, help that man out! I got this." _he commanded._

_The Quartermaster nodded and went to assist, while the captain of the destroyer drew his blade and stared down Edward._

"You underestimate me, scum!"

_He launched into combat, performing furious swipes at Edward, but the lightness of _Willbreaker _allowed Edward to parry all of them. The enemy captain tired a bit, giving Edward the opportunity to swing at his shoulder. The scythe blade hooked around his arm, and Edward flipped the switch to transform his weapon. As the scythe blade folded down, it took the man's arm with it, trapping it in Edward's weapon. The sword blade rotated into place, and Edward sidestepped behind the man, twisting his arm as he went. His cry of pain was silenced with gurgling as the pirate captain impaled him with his sword._

"Hurrah! Hurrah!" _cheered the pirates, until Edward barked out his order._

"Save your cheering for when we get off! This ship's gonna sink in a few minutes, so get your arses to work!"

_The crew stopped celebration and rushed below decks to loot what they could. Edward started to inspect the surrendered crew of the destroyer, picking out various men of interest. The last of his crew made it back on board the _Sabre_, and Mason called for Edward to go._

"Come on captain, the water's rushing in!"

_Edward pointed at some men of interest, and motioned for them to follow. The members of the defeated crew looked back at their doomed comrades, and silently climbed aboard the cruiser._

_**That evening…**_

_Edward's crew was celebrating the night away in the tavern at the pirate city of Port Prince._

"A stroke of luck that that vessel had a rare crate of Dust on board, isn't it?" _Edward asked his Quartermaster, then chugging down a bottle of rum._

"Aye, captain. And it seems you'll have another stroke of luck, look there!" _Mason said._

_Edward turned to face this so called 'luck'. He was met with four men walking towards their table. One was rather rough looking, dressed in rags. Another was in colorful and casual clothing, laughing and making jokes. The third was in dressed in all black, with a large beard and a feathered hat adorning his head. The last was clothed in a formal captain's uniform, and seemed to be quite cultured.*_

"So this is the new upstart captain, eh? Stinks the same as any other pirate round here." _the rough man taunted._

"Oy, why the long face?" _the casual man asked in a overly sweet voice, noticing Edward's frown. _"You fallin' in love?"

"With your blouse." _Edward jabbed._

_As the casual man's face hardened, the gentleman stepped between the two. _"Peace, men. He was only jesting."

_Edward eyed the man, and asked, _"And who are you to stop this quarrel?"

"Byron Hornigold, at your service." _the gentleman pirate introduced.*_

"Earl Thatch." _the man in black gruffly said.*_

"'Calico' John Rackham." _the jokester said.*_

_Edward now turned to the rough looking man, eyebrow raised._

"The 'ell do you want?" _the man angrily asked._

_Byron sighed, and said, _"Just tell him your name, you brute."

"Carl Vane." _the man said.*_

"And what's so important about you fellows?" _Edward asked in a bored tone._

"Show some goddamned respect, worm!" _Carl screamed, and raised his arm for a punch._

_Byron got in the way, and grabbed Carl's hand in a vice grip. _"Jaysus, control your temper man!" _Shoving Carl out of the way, he turned to Edward once more. _"I'll forgive you for that comment, but show some regard for your fellow men trying to make a living. We're the first pirates to stalk these seas, and the reason why this town exists." _Byron said, sweeping his arms around the tavern to emphasize his point. _"We funded the building of this town with our prizes, so that the downtrodden might have a place to stay."

_Edward felt his eyelids droop at Byron's little speech, until he spoke a certain phrase._

"We are the 'Flying Gang'."*

_At this, Edward sat straight up. Mason had told him stories of these men. They'd struck fear into the hearts of all Schnee sailors, and robbed them senseless these past few years. These men were the reason why he'd been out at sea in the first place._

"So you are the fellows that are taking down the entire Schnee shipping industry? Well, nice to finally meet you fine men." _Edward said with some respect for these men and their battle prowess._

"Aye, lad. We've been working on the Schnees for a few years. But we've been having trouble with a strange beast prowling the oceans. Black, six legs, weird disease spreading. Both us and the Schnees been avoiding this part of the ocean because of that beast, but with the arrival of a certain captain…" _Byron winked. _"...we don't have to worry about that anymore, and we can sail once more to claim our lien. That's the reason why we've come to see you, we want to offer you a spot on our little 'team' here. Do you accept?"

_Edward was dumbfounded by the offer. He was going to accept, but thoughts of Katherine flashed in his head. Attacking the Schnees meant attacking the Scott ships that would be protecting them from now on. Which meant betraying the one love in his life. Mason sensed his captain's hesitation, and activated his Semblance again, which washed away any thoughts of refusal._

"I accept!" _Edward said with confidence, rising to shake Byron's now extended hand._

"Good, good! Welcome to your new life, lad."

_And with that, Byron lead his other three comrades out of the tavern. Edward was again bombarded with images of Katherine's scowling face at his betrayal. He clutched his head and fell back down onto the chair. Mason saw that his leader was again having second thoughts because of his lover, and spotted a few women offering their 'services' to paying men. Mason walked over, paid them a generous sum, and directed them to 'comfort' Edward._

"Hey there, big boy…" _one of them said seductively._

"Care to enjoy our company tonight?" _another scantily clad woman asked._

_Edward's head was spinning, his love for Katherine attempting to fight the lure of these women and the Suggestion Semblance of Mason, who was trying to convince Edward to give up on the Scott. In the end, Mason's convincing won, and Edward allowed himself to be pulled into a side room of the tavern, to be kept busy all night long._

_**A year later… **_

"Time to go, Young."

_Edward turned to see Byron approaching his table, along with the other members of the Flying Gang._

"Aye, Edward. Time to show the Schnees the terror of 'The Scotts' Scythe'!" _Earl spoke up._

_Edward gave a small chuckle at the nickname. He'd earned it, of course, for the Scott uniform he always wore, and the unique weapon he chose to wield. But he soon frowned at the reason for why he was being called. A few days earlier, Carl had captured a small scouting vessel with Schnee mercenaries aboard. He'd found out that the Schnees planned to launch an all out assault on Port Prince to wipe out the pirates. But they'd be damned if they went down without a fight. So Edward stood up, and made his way to the _Sabre. _He saw the rest of the Flying Gang board their own ships, Byron on his own crusier _The Byron, _Earl on his destroyer _King Anthony's Revenge, '_Calico' John on his frigate _The Phoenix, _and Carl on his missile ship _The Ranger. _They set sail to meet the oncoming armada.*_

"Ships sighted sir!" _a crew member called out._

"Brace yourselves lads!" _Byron's voice came through the speakers. _"Today, we fight for freedom!"

_The crew gave a cheer. _"Hurrah!"

"For glory!"

"Hurrah!"

"For vengeance!"

"Hurrah!"

_With the little speech over, Edward commanded his men to load the guns. A large battleship came into view, with the Schnee symbol painted on its hull. Edward smirked, and yelled into the P.A., _"Fire mortars!"

_The roar of the artillery boomed throughout the seas, the shells finding their marks and slamming into the Schnee flagship. It responded with a volley of auto cannon fire, with a few heavy shells coming the _Sabre's _way. _The Ranger _fired off its specialized web shells, that exploded into a fine Dust mesh in front of the _Sabre, _catching the lighter shells and most of the heavy shots, with the rest of the battleship's attacks falling wide of Edward's cruiser._

"Thanks for that, Vane!" _Edward yelled through the microphone._

"Save the thanks for later, Young! Give me cover fire so I can launch my missiles on the newcomers!" _Carl's voice responded through the speakers._

_Edward looked up, and saw the Schnee battleship joined by many other support vessels. He counted at least 20 frigates, 10 destroyers, 5 cruisers, and another battleship. He felt a pang of guilt, as these support ships had the Scott logo stamped on their hulls. But he quickly shook it off, he was fighting for his life now._

"Focus the railgun on the Schnee battleship, fire the auto cannons on the frigates, fire the flak cannons on the cruisers, get the mortars loaded with A.O.E. shells and focus them on the destroyers!" _he yelled into the P.A. _

_The _Sabre _rocked violently with most of its arsenal going off at once. The enemy armada was bombarded with the cruiser's weapons, with 2 frigates downed from the A.O.E. shells that were meant for the destroyers, and the Schnee battleship sustaining moderate damage from the super powered shell that came from the railgun. _King Anthony's Revenge _fired its heavy guns on the Scott battleship, and took down 3 frigates with its flaming mortar shells. _The Phoenix _fired off its auto cannons and took down one destroyer with the higher number, quality, and size of its guns. Finally, _The Byron _opened fire with its heavy guns on the Scott battleship, auto cannons focused on the frigates, and mortars on the destroyers. The armada, now reduced to the two battleships, 15 frigates, 8 destroyers, and the full 5 cruisers, returned fire. The sky was darkened with the sheer amount of shells launched. _The Ranger _desperately tried to protect the pirate fleet, firing its web shells above the other ships. This blunted the attack, but _The Phoenix _still sustained heavy damage, and _King Anthony's Revenge _got dented a bit._

"Missiles ready!" _Carl's voice announced through the speakers._

The Ranger _shook with the firing of all 8 of its missile launchers. Six of the launchers sent a grand total of 24 light missiles headed the armada's way, and the last two fired four heavy missiles. When the ordinance reached their targets, all hell broke loose. The crews of all five ships cheered at the sight of all the explosions. The clearing smoke revealed that there were only 3 frigates, 4 destroyers, 1 crusier, and of course the two battleships left. The cheers of the crew were drowned out by the battleships launching their full arsenal at the fleet. _The Ranger _again tried to defend its comrades, but only the auto cannon shells were stopped. Screams were heard as a rail gun shell tore straight through _The Phoenix. _Another railgun shell slammed into _The Byron, _while _King Anthony's Revenge _was assaulted by heavy gunfire._

"Status report!" _Edward shouted in his microphone._

"Moderate damage, small crew loss!" _Byron shouted back in the speakers._

"Slightly heavy damage, moderate crew loss!" _Earl responded._

"No damage whatsoever, but John is sunk." _Carl said with sadness through the P.A. system._

"No time to mourn his loss Carl, get your missile launcher ready again! Byron, give Earl some cover fire so they can repair a bit. I'll lead the assault on the battleships!"

_Edward turned and ordered a crew member to crank up the engines. As he rushed down to give some life to the machinery, Edward ordered the flak cannons fired. The ten large shells screamed through the air, tearing through the towers of the Schnee battleship. It was beginning to smoke, but the Scott battleship opened fire with its railgun. The super powered shell ripped a part of the _Sabre's _hull off._

"You! Grab a few men and get to repairing the damage!" _Edward shouted to a sailor._

_The Schnee battleship stopped its slow advance to repair, while the Scott battleship continued its slow charge at the pirates. Edward felt the rush as the _Sabre's _engines were kicked into high gear, and aimed the carronades at the Scott battleship. The explosive shells did some damage, but didn't slow the monstrous vessel a bit. He fired off the A.A. gun at the battleship, hoping to send its crew into disarray. This failed, as through a periscope he saw the enemy crew simply take cover, unfazed by the assault. _The Byron _opened fire on the Schnee battleship, and fired off its mortars at the support vessels. The mortar shells hit their mark, wrecking the last of the armada, leaving only the two battleships. And then there was only one, as the guns of _The Byron _had hit dead center, and the Schnee battleship went down with a flurry of explosions. But the Scott battleship got its vengeance, cutting down _King Anthony's Revenge _with a railgun shell and a few heavy cannons. As Earl and his ship sunk into the depths, Byron decided to avenge his fallen comrade, and charge the last battleship. He kicked his cruiser into overdrive, and unleashed everything his ship had at the enemy. The combined mass of all of his guns dealt significant damage to the battleship, but whoever the captain of this ship was, he was clever. He fired off his broadside at _The Ranger, _ending Carl and his crew. Edward over drove his own engines, trying to give everything he had into this one ramming. But the battleship let loose a large amount of mines, forcing Edward to turn his ship. Right into _The Byron.

"What the hell was that, Edward?!" _Byron shouted through the comms, but he was cut off by the report of the entire arsenal of the battleship, sending him to his doom, with the rest of the Flying Gang._

_All on his own now, Edward tried to play it more defensively. But he was trapped. Between the still sinking wreckage of _The Byron _and the Scott battleship, there was no room for maneuvering. The battleship again fired off its railgun, but this time at point blank range. The _Sabre _was crippled, helpless to stop the boarding. The two ships grated together, and the battleship's crew hopped aboard the _Sabre. _Edward and Mason fought like animals, but as they cut down Scott soldiers, something caught Edward's attention. He heard a feminine voice coming through an earpiece of one of the dying soldiers, and it was giving orders. Wanting to identify the captain of the enemy vessel, he looked to the command tower of the battleship._

"Katherine?!"

_Edward couldn't believe his eyes, but there she was, the former love of his life, captaining this vessel that had destroyed the rest of his friends. She also spotted Edward, and almost dropped her radio. She regained her composure, and shouted something into her radio. Edward heard her voice coming through the earpiece, and listened closely._

"Ignore that order, I repeat delay that command!"

_Edward wondered what command she wanted to stop, and he soon found out. The guns of the battleship went off, tearing through the _Sabre's _hull. Edward was blasted off the ship, and plunged into the depths of the ocean._

_**Two days later…**_

_Edward awoke to the screeching of seagulls. The shrill noise nearly made him release the piece of driftwood he had floated on since the battle. He squinted at the sun, and saw the birds circling his head._

'Funny.' _Edward thought to himself. _'I used to love the sight of these birds.'

_He closed his eyes, and was about to accept his fate, when a revelation hit him._

'Seagulls?! They rarely ever leave the coast!'

_He lifted his head, and looked around frantically. And then he saw it. The docks, ships making ready to leave port, the city! He began frantically kicking, pouring all his energy into reaching shore. He'd made it within 10 minutes, and climbed onto the wooden dock. He stumbled around, gaining weird looks from the few people who were present. He fell to his knees from the sheer exhaustion, and laid down on his back._

_A man leaned over him, and asked, _"Are you alright?"

_Edward laughed at the question, and answered, _"Just dandy, mate. By the way, what city is this?"

"Vale."

_Edward smiled at the fortune of making it to a major city, and asked again, _"Where's the nearest pub?"

_**The next day…**_

_Edward stumbled out into the street. He'd spent every last lein he'd accumulated in his years of pirating to get drunk, no to get SMASHED. He slurred out vulgar words to women on the street, and eventually came to rest in a darkened alley. He sat down roughly, and took a long swig from his bottle of rum. However, the world seemed to hate Edward, and sent forth some thugs to try and rob him._

_A thug pointed a gun at the drunken man, and demanded, _"Wallet and Scroll."

_Edward took a look at the man, and laughed. _"Sorry mate, but I'm all out of cash!"

"Man, that's bullshit, you'd better give me your money now or-"

SQUELCH.

_The mugger was silenced by a blade through his throat. As he fell to the floor, his killer was revealed. A man dressed in a complete black __hooded coat and waistcoat stylized with a large crimson dragon design across the upper back portion. He wore a belt with a strange insignia acting as its buckle, which held up white breeches and dark brown boots. He had a cutlass sheathed in a black scabbard, and a black rectangle strapped onto his belt with softly glowing red lines. He had a bloodied blade protruding from his wrist, presumably used to kill the thug. The three other robbers got into fighting stances, but were no match for the skill of the man before them. He seemingly teleported between the men, sticking each of them in the throat with his blade. As he retracted his blade back into his sleeve, Edward swore he saw his 'savior's' hand glowing a faint blue, through his glove. But he never got a chance to speak, as the man wasted no time in starting a conversation._

"Well, with those rogues taken care of, how are you holding up, man?"

_Edward hiccuped and said, _"Ya know, I could have taken them."

_The mysterious man gave a small chuckle, and responded, _"I've no doubt about that. But with abilities like your own, what are you doing here, in a dark alley? Shouldn't you be out working with those arms?"

"What job would pay enough? None!" _Edward remarked, and took another swig from the bottle._

"So its money you're after? Well then Mr. Young, I represent an organization that makes quite a bit of money doing some…...unsavory work."

_The drunken Edward stuck out his hand and said, _"I accept! But if I'm going to join, I'm gonna need a name, buddy!"

_The man shook Edward's hand as he spoke his title._

"Drake Darnell, Master Assassin."

**A/N: There we have it! Edward's story, and Kayla's is next. Again, sorry for the long delay, but school and the length of the chapter is preventing me from publishing more. I hope you liked it, I wasn't thinking right when I wrote the last half of the chapter, so if the story of Edward is nonsensical, that's why. I just felt like writing about naval combat, so there you go. Now time for the references!**

***The 'Flying Gang' is a real group of pirates who sailed of course during the Golden Age of Piracy. The real members' names were Benjamin Hornigold, Charles Vane, 'Calico' Jack Rackham, and Edward Thatch, better known as Blackbeard.**

****These lines are references to Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. These are the lines Edward Kenway says in game, and I did say my OC was going to be based on him.**

*****These lines are references to Assassin's Creed 3, with some modifications. AC3 isn't as good as the rest of the AC games in my opinion, so if you just got into the franchise, you'd be better off buying Black Flag or any of the Ezio trilogy.**

******Again, this is a reference to Monster Hunter, so go look up pictures of the 'Gore Magala' if my description isn't satisfactory.**

**That's all for now. This is your humble upstart writer signing off.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with Kayla's backstory. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SWEARING, SEXUAL SCENES, OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN, DRINKING, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, RAPE, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, AND OTHER HORRIBLE SPAWNS OF HUMANITY. PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY THESE THINGS. READ ON WITH CAUTION. I am not joking around with this, its pretty bad. This story is about "Hurt/Tragedy" for various reasons. Life has been kinda crappy lately, and all the dark thoughts that have been swirling in my head have made themselves known in this story. DO NOT BLOW OFF THIS WARNING.**

Chapter 8

"Well, that was ironic." Jaune muttered as the Animus projection faded away.

"How come I've never heard of this 'Scott Security' company. Care to explain Weiss?" Yang asked.

"Why does everything even vaguely related to business come back to me?!" the heiress exclaimed. The whole group shot her a 'really?' look, except for Alan, who was very flustered at the moment.

"Wait…...Weiss… business… Weiss Schnee is here?! Training to become an Assassin?!" he shouted in disbelief.

The Hunters froze at this outburst, before Weiss came up with a lie.

"My parents were once workers for the Schnees, but were fired because of a mistake. Out of spite and their strange sense of humor, they named me after the company's heiress. But I've been teased and held up to the same standards as she would because of my name." Weiss said, with a tinge of truth at the last sentence.

Alan seemed to buy into this lie because of Weiss' sadness at the last part, and calmed down.

"Anyways, back to the Scotts." Weiss continued. "I've heard they had collapsed after a huge naval battle near Port Prince. The only surviving ship was the Scotts best battleship, with the heiress to the Scotts' business, Katherine Scott, on board. But for some reason, she broke down after that battle, and stopped working with the Schnees. Without her leadership, the company quickly collapsed due to the bickering of greedy shareholders. Guess we finally know why she gave up."

"Next research subject, Kayla Nelson. Born February 27, 1992, Mistral. Proceeding to memories." the Animus announced, stopping any further discussion.

######

_**2000, Mistral…**_

_A young Kayla was on the street, asking any and all strangers if they would like to buy newspapers._

"Paper? Paper, anyone?" _she asked in the nicest voice her tired body could muster._

_No one bit, but Kayla didn't mind. Opening her pocket, she counted out 20 lien in coins. She'd done well today, those 20 lien would feed her poor family for a few days. She saw the setting sun, and packed up the remaining papers and her money, skipping to the newsstand she worked for. She traded in the leftover papers to the generous owner, who gave her half the price she paid for the papers back, bringing her total to 22 lien._

"Thanks, mister!" _she cheerfully said to the man, who gave her a small smile and waved his goodbye._

_Kayla skipped along the street, ignoring the strange looks people gave her._

'How can this poor girl, clothed in rags, be so happy?' _they asked themselves._

_Kayla was raised by a drunkard of a father, who flew into fits of rage every once in a while, and a mother who worked day and night at a convenience store. The father kept the family homeless, for he stole what money his wife made to drink, so it was up to Kayla to make enough money to feed the family. Her mother tried to care for her as best she could, but alas her job and poor choice in a man prevented her in doing so. Therefore, in these short and occasional moments of peace, Kayla would enjoy the sunshine, and count her blessings that she could make enough to eat. She passed the worn sign that signalled her entry into 'The Slums'. The scenery quickly changed from neat, clean rows of high rises to dirty, dreary shambles of apartment complexes. People in ragged and torn clothing littered the streets. Kayla's skip soon slowed to a brisk walk at the sight of the poor, and her face quickly changed to that of a depressed adult. And who wouldn't? The sight of all these starving men, women, and children would be enough to sadden the most cheerful of souls. She made it to the large tent that was her residence. She opened the front flap, and said a cheery greeting to her mother._

"Hey mom!"

"Kayla! Why so happy all of a sudden?" _her mother asked in genuine concern._

"Look!" _the girl said, proudly showing off the money she'd made._

"That's great, dear! Good job today." _Kayla's mother exclaimed, patting her on the back._

_But then, a furious man stepped through the entrance._

"Lauren, you bitch, where's my money?!" _he yelled. He was Kayla's dysfunctional father, come back for more drinking money._

"You ain't getting any, you worthless sack of shit!" _she screamed in response._

_Then the father proceeded to walk straight up to her, and punch her to the ground. Cradling her now broken nose, he snatched the money that fell out of her pocket. Kayla was now sobbing in the corner at her father's violence, and he turned to her._

"Shut your fucking mouth, girl!" _he yelled, but was quieted at the sight of the 22 lien spilled on the floor as Kayla raised her hands to cover her ears._

_He scrambled to pick up the loose change, and dashed back out to spend what little happiness Kayla had brought home on drink. His daughter meanwhile, crawled over to her injured mother, and tried to nurse her with what little medical knowledge that came through much experience._

_**2004, Mistral…**_

_Kayla helped her mother with digging. Through the cold rain her borrowed shovel tore into the earth, and tossed it aside. Her father had recently passed, getting involved in a bar fight against the local mob. They'd had to beg the undertaker for a plot of land in the graveyard, because they didn't want his body stinking up their place, and borrowed his shovel to excavate the land. They didn't have the money for a coffin, and were going to simply toss his body into the dirt and cover him up._

'Just as he deserved.' _Kayla thought bitterly. _

_She'd rather be at work at her newly acquired job in the McDougal's fast food restaurant, making money to support her mother instead of wasting time with the body of her disgusting pig of a father. They finally finished the grave, and they hefted the remains of her dad, and unceremoniously dumped him into the hole._

'So long, asswipe.' _she thought, as she covered up the source of all her suffering._

_They stuck a makeshift cross into the dirt, more so to save the undertaker the trouble of digging up a body thinking the area was clear instead of any respect for the dead man. They returned the shovel to the undertaker, and walked off into the darkness._

"Well, with him gone, we can finally live our lives!" _Kayla said, trying to cheer up her mother._

"I guess. We can start saving for a apartment now!" _her mother said, brightening considerably. _

_But her expression quickly fell at her next words, _"But I can't help feeling guilty at being happy about his death. After all, he was the one who made you." _Kayla's mother gave a weak smile at her daughter._

"Well, I'm sure if he'd kept the qualities that made you fall for him in the first place, then he'd have wanted us to move on." _Kayla answered._

"Yeah. Hey, I'm supposed to be the one to comfort you!" _her mother joked, and they shared a laugh in the rain, walking back to their tent._

_**2010, Mistral…**_

_Kayla opened the door of her apartment, and called out, _"Mom, I'm home!"

_She still admired the humble home, the place she and her mother had worked so hard to keep. Kayla had worked hard after her father's passing, gaining the confidence of her manager, who allowed her to work shorter hours for the same pay. This was due to the intensity of how she worked when Kayla came in, so with the free time she went to school. Despite starting middle school in the eighth grade with no previous schooling, she studied hard, and was due to graduate in a few months._

"Mom?" _she again called, worried due to her mother's lack of response._

_She heard sobbing in the other room, and went to investigate. She saw her mother crying in a corner, clutching a piece of paper._

"Mom! Mom, what's the matter?!" _she cried, running to her mother and hugging her._

"T-t-he rent…" _she said, handing over the paper._

_Kayla quickly looked it over, and saw that the rent for this place had gone up from 600 lien to 1000 lien. _

"Mom, it's okay! We have a lot of spare money, we can last until I graduate and can find a better paying job!" _she said, only to be met with the shaking of her mother's head._

"My boss fired me today, Kayla."

"What?! For what reason?!" _she asked._

"He said he didn't need the extra help anymore, he'd found a younger woman willing to work for less…" _her mother choked out between sobs._

_She thought a little bit, and quickly realized their plight. They wouldn't be able to cover the gap without her mom working, unless Kayla dropped out of school and worked full time at the fast food chain._

"Mom, it's okay! I can drop out, we'll make this work!"

"No! You can't drop out, I won't let you stay poor because you didn't graduate!" _her mother shouted, clutching her daughter's sleeve. _"I won't let you be like me…"

"Mom, it's okay-"

"NO! It's not okay. I failed you Kayla. I'm so sorry, I failed you…" _her mother said, her words losing power._

"Mom, you never failed me, I-"

"DON'T CALL ME 'MOM'!" _she yelled._

_Kayla recoiled at this, and backed up from her seemingly enraged mother._

"I don't deserve to be your mother. I'm weak!" _she said, running out of the apartment._

"MOM!"

_She saw her mother running out of the complex through the window. Kayla grabbed her shoes and stumbled into the street. She ran through the streets and alleyways, searching for her mother. It was in one of these alleyways that she was pulled aside._

"LET ME GO!" _she yelled, tugging at her captor._

"Whoa there little missy, what seems to be the matter?" _a middle aged man asked._

"I'm looking for my mother, so let me go you freak!"

_The man let go, and said, _"Well I did see a woman running through here a few moments ago."

"Which way?!"

"Hold up there, girl. I know you want to find her, but why was she running in the first place?"

_Kayla realized he wasn't going to talk until she did, and relented._

"Money problems."

_The man raised an eyebrow, then adopted a smile._

"Well, little lady, I can think of some good work for ya…" _he said, scanning Kayla's well developed body._

_She felt shivers over her body, she'd seen that look in too many men's eyes at school, and quickly snapped, _"Sorry, but I'm not interested in becoming your whore!"

_He put his hands up in mock surrender, and continued, _"Easy there miss. I wasn't going to tell you to give up your dignity, but something close. See I work for a certain club that has found itself in need of some… female entertainment for its patrons."

_Kayla's face had a look of disgust as she knew he was offering her a place as a stripper._

"Sorry, still not interested, creep. Now tell me, where'd my mom go?!"

"One last thing girl. It pays 20 lien an hour, and you get to keep the customers' tips." _he said, pointing to one of the two alleys behind him._

_She quickly ran past him, wanting to get away from the ugly thoughts. But she couldn't help but think of his offer._

'20 lien and hour? That's double what I earn at McDougal's. If I work there, I can make enough money to pay the increased rent, and then some!' _she thought while running._

'NO. What the fuck is wrong with me?! I will never stoop to that level.'

_She finally found her mother crying behind a trash can in a darkened alley._

"Mom!"

_Her mother lifted her head, and sniffed. Her eye's opened wide as she said in disbelief, _"Kayla?"

"Mom! Mom, I'm here." _she said, crouching to help her mother to her feet._

"You came for me?" _she asked._

"Of course! You're not a failure, you're the most dedicated mom I could ever ask for. Now come on, let's get you back home."

_Her mother hugged Kayla, and they walked back to the apartment in silence._

_**A few months later… **_

_Kayla rushed to the hospital, driving at crazy speeds._

'I can't believe I let her work there! Stupid, stupid!' _she thought to herself, avoiding the traffic that conspired to stop her._

_Her mother had found another job as a dock worker, which she accepted without a second thought, despite Kayla's protests. With the higher pay and harder work, they'd managed to pay the higher rent, and buy a cap and gown for Kayla at graduation. They'd been so happy at that point, and life only seemed to get better. They'd been able to afford a used car, that Kayla used to start looking for a better job, and her mother was looking forwards to maybe even sending her daughter to college. But those dreams were crushed when she received a call that her mother had suffered serious injury at work due to overexertion._

'Knew I should've kept her at home!' _she thought, pulling up at the hospital. She threw the door open, locked the car, and rushed into the building. _

_Running up to a nurse, she half shouted, _"Name: Lauren Marie Nelson. Hurt in a dock accident, where?!"

"Over in Intensive Care, which is down the hall to the right. I'm afraid you'll have to wait in their lobby though." _she replied._

_Kayla rushed past her, jogging down the hall and turning the corner. She saw the sign signalling the entryway to the I.C. section, but was stopped by security._

"I'm gonna have to ask you to slow down miss." _the man said._

"I'm going to see injured family, surely you understand?!" _Kayla desperately cried, wanting to see her mother quickly._

"I do, but I'm afraid you'll have to register like everyone else."

_She sighed in defeat, not wanting to get thrown out or get arrested for 'improper conduct', so she trusted the doctors could handle it and walked up to the counter._

_The nurse on duty looked up and gave what she thought was a comforting smile._

"Name and purpose." _she started._

"Kayla Nelson, visiting family." _Kayla replied._

"Name of family?"

"Lauren Marie Nelson."

"Please wait in a chair until the doctor calls."

_Kayla turned and sat in a cushioned seat, her hands writhing in her lap. She waited for an agonizing hour before a man dressed in white came out and called her name._

"How is she?" _Kayla demanded._

"She fractured her back in the accident. She'll need to stay in I.C. for a few months, and then she won't be able to work for another year. The therapy she'll need to go through for that year will be expensive, even with our financial aid to help." _he said in a comforting, and then regretful tone when he brought up the money._

"I'll make it happen, now can I see her?" _Kayla frantically asked._

"Yes, I'll take you to her."

_They walked down a pure white hallway, opening the fifth door on the left. It swung open, revealing a woman crying in a bed._

"MOM!"

_Kayla rushed to her mother's side, hugging her. The doctor closed the door to give them some privacy._

"Kayla? I'm so sorry for making you worry, if only I'd been a little more careful-"

"Stop!"

_She looked up at her mother's face, and hugged her even tighter._

"Your whole life, you've sacrificed it all for your daughter. Don't apologize for a burden meant for me!"

_They remained silent after that, simply rocking in each other's arms for a bit. Kayla's mother then looked down at her crying daughter, and asked, _"I assume the doc has told you all about the consequences?"

_Kayla sniffled, and responded, _"Yeah, he told me all about it. Don't worry about that, focus on getting better, okay?"

"Alright, Kayla. I'll trust you to take care of yourself for now." _she said with a smile._

"Not only myself, but you as well, mom."

######

_Kayla walked up the steps to her apartment, deep in thought. The doctor had revealed that the cost of the therapy would be 300 lien a month, but the more pressing issue was the medical costs of keeping her mother in her hospital, which was 100 lien a month. This was going to be hard, as Kayla only made 800 a month, not even enough to pay for the apartment. But she only worked a 4 hour shift, again because of her dedication to work she only had to work a half shift for a full shift's pay. She could work a second job for her mother, and still have some free time after work! With these cheerful thoughts in mind, Kayla unlocked the door to her apartment. She locked it behind her, and walked over to the coffee table in the living room. She sat down and shuffled through some papers, sifting through the various jobs she'd looked into. She found a part time job at a coffee shop that would pay 400 lien, enough to pay for her mother's care and a bit leftover for other expenses. It wouldn't pay for her mother's therapy later, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. Right now she was happy that things were going to work out, that things were finally going to get back to normal._

_**A few months later...**_

_Kayla came home despondent. She'd been fired from the McDougal's fast food restaurant. _

'Knew I should've kept quiet!' _she thought to herself. Another employee had figured out that Kayla had been getting paid full time while she was working part time, and reported her and her manager to the supervisor. The manager got off with a stern warning, but Kayla was not so lucky. Now with her mother in therapy, and her with little income, Kayla lost all hope. Until she remembered that job offer months back. _

'...20 lien and hour, and you keep the customers' tips...' _the man's voice rang in her mind. _

'_NO! I can't do that…...' Kayla thought to herself and shook her head. She was on her way to pick up her mother from a therapy session._

"Very good Ms. Nelson!" _a voice said through the wooden door. Kayla peered through the glass, and saw her mother attempting to walk, and managing a few steps. _

'_But I can't let her down now, not with all of that progress…...' Kayla thought. She pushed the door open, and greeted the therapist. _

"Good afternoon, Ms. Fitzgerald."

_The therapist turned to her, and responded, _"Why hello there, Kayla!" "How is she?" _Kayla asked. _

"Good, good! She's coming along very well, recovering faster than anything I've ever seen!" _the therapist exclaimed, Kayla's mother smiling sheepishly in the background. _

"That's great! Well, come on mom, let me help you." _Kayla grabbed the walker her mother was bound to for the time being. _

_They walked out of the building, Kayla's mother noticing the frown on her daughter's face. _

"Is something the matter, dear?"

"No! No, nothing at all. I'm fine." _Kayla said, smiling at the words. They drove back to the apartment, and walked together to the door. _

"I'm sorry to leave you at home, but I have something to take care of, okay?" _Kayla told her mother. _

"Alright then, just be home soon!" _her mother called. _

"Of course, mom!"

_Kayla got back in the car, and contemplated her fate. _'I'm sorry mom, but I need to do this. For you.' _she said, repeating this mantra over and over in her head. She reached the location where the man had first confronted her. He wasn't there, but the saw a nearby bar and guessed that was the place. She shoved open the doors, and saw the place deserted. Except for the man, seated at the bar, drink in hand. She walked up to him, and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and smirked. _

"I see you finally thought about my offer!" _he said. _

_Kayla blushed a bit before saying, _"Just show me the ropes…"

_**A few months later…**_

_Kayla breathed calmly, waiting for her shift on the stage to begin. Another girl by the name of Kyra had been hired soon after her. They had a lot in common, they didn't want to do this, but they had to for money. Kayla had grown quite close to the girl, and often worked some of her shifts for her out of concern. She heard her cue from the owner, and stepped onto the stage. Kyra walked past her friend, giving her a weak smile as they passed each other. Cat calls and wolf whistles were immediately heard, Kayla's well developed form prominent through the revealing clothing she was forced to wear. She swayed her hips on her way to the pole, forcing her disgust at the men seated before her to the back of her mind. She gripped the still warm metal, and began her performance._

######

_Kayla finally finished her shift, collected her money, and walked out of the bar. She hugged her jacket against the cold winter wind, and shuffled to her car. But some men from the bar had other intentions. _

"Hey there pretty lady, how you doing?" _a man slurred out, clearly drunk. _

"Fine, thank you. Now move!" _she snapped. Shoving the man out of her way, she was held back by a rough grip on her shoulder. _

"Where you going little missy?" _the man said. Kayla tried to slap his hand away, but was quickly pinned to the alley wall. _

_She squirmed in their grasp, and one shouted, _"Hey, we got a fighter Johnny!"

"Heh, I'll make sure all the fight is outta you, bitch!" _the newly named Johnny said. _

_Kayla looked in horror as he undid his belt and zipper, his pants sagging to reveal his underwear. She struggled more, but couldn't budge from the mens' hold. Johnny pulled down his underwear, revealing his now stiff genitalia. _

_She screamed, _"NO! Please, stop!"

_Her plea was ignored as the man chuckled, _"Hold up, gotta practice safe sex!"

_He pulled a condom out from his pocket, and slipped it onto his erection. _

"Pull off her pants!" _he ordered. His two lackeys obeyed, tugging down Kayla's trousers and panties. _

_The man chuckled at the sight of Kayla's shaven core, and said, _"Oh, this'll be fun!"

"Please, don't!" _she cried one last time. But it was to no avail, and it was on this day, in a forgotten alleyway, that Kayla Nelson lost her last shred of dignity._

_**A few days later…**_

_Kayla stood on top of Mistral's CCT. She'd snuck by the guards, and made her way to the normally blocked off observation area of the CCT. She calmly walked over to the railing, and stood atop it. She balanced perfectly on the edge, all those years of running and climbing away from her father's rampages being the only thing keeping the woman from certain death. She thought to herself the hardships she would bring upon her mother. _

'I'm sorry, Mom. I promised to take care of you. I promised to never leave you. But what happened that day, was too much. I'm sorry. I hope you will find solace in the fact that we will see each other soon.' _she thought, and got ready to jump. _

_But right as she was about to end her life, a voice called her back to reality._

"That's not a very smart thing to do."

_She nearly fell from the precipice, and hopped backwards, onto the safe concrete of the CCT. She saw a man casually sitting on the railing, a leg propped up on the railing and the other dangling over the edge. He was dressed in a black __hooded coat and waistcoat with a large crimson dragon design across the upper back portion. He wore a belt with a strange belt buckle holding up white breeches and boots. His hair was a chestnut brown, and his eyes were the same. He had a sword sheathed in a black metal scabbard, along with a rectangular black container with faintly glowing red lines streaking across it clipped behind him on his belt. His gaze was fixated on her._

"W-who the hell are you?" _Kayla half-yelled at the man, confused as to how he got there without her noticing._

"A friend." _he responded, jumping from the railing and touching down beside Kayla._

"Get away from me, freak!" _she screamed, backing away from him, tripping over herself in the process._

"Well, freak is actually one of the better words I had used to label me, but what's the matter? I'm here to help."

"No you aren't! You men are all the same! You're just another pig after my body!" _Kayla hysterically screamed at him._

_She again backed away from the strange man, but she couldn't help but feel that this mysterious man was different from those brutes a few days back. She looked into his eyes, and saw concern. Not the lust of her high school peers or those bar customers, but concern. His stance was relaxed, and were it not for her paranoia, she would have detected a bit of caution._

"Look, I know what happened, and I'm sorry for that. But what if I told you that you could get back at them. What if I told you that you could fight for yourself, and become strong enough that no man can touch you. And, you could support your mother."

_She narrowed her eyes at how this man somehow knew about her problems, but decided there was nothing to lose._

"What's the catch?" _she asked._

"You're gonna be a killer." _he responded._

_She thought about it, and remembered that she used to be a stripper, and then raped. She had jack shit for dignity left, so why the hell not?_

"Fine. I'm in." _The man approached her and said, _"Great. Now for proper introductions. My name's Drake."

"Kayla." _she responded, accepting his outstretched hand._

_She jerked his arm and got him into a chokehold._

"But one wrong move, and I will end you." _she warned._

_Drake suppressed a smirk, and said, _"Of course, ma'am."

**A/N: Well, that's it. Sorry for ruining your day and mind with terrible imagery. The next chapter will be for Ryan, and that will be just as bad, if not worse. No references in this chapter, so I'll leave you to purchase some brain bleach.**


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